Final answer:
If white blood cells fail to kill cancer cells, the cancer cells can multiply and form tumors, potentially leading to malignant growths. Cancer cells can also suppress the immune response, making it more challenging for the body to fight cancer. Ineffective immune response to cancer often necessitates medical intervention such as chemotherapy or radiation.
Step-by-step explanation:
White blood cells are a critical component of the immune system, responsible for fighting off infections and diseases, including cancer. During cancer development, mutated cells are often recognized and destroyed by the immune system, specifically by cell-mediated immune responses. However, if white blood cells fail to kill cancer cells, the cancer cells may not self-destruct. Instead, they can proliferate, potentially leading to the formation and growth of tumors. This unchecked multiplication and formation of tumors can result in benign or, more dangerously, malignant tumors.
Cancer cells have various mechanisms to suppress the immune system, such as expressing membrane proteins that deactivate cytotoxic T cells or inducing regulatory T cells that can impair immune responses. When cancer cells are not adequately destroyed by the immune system, they become a serious health problem, often leading to cancer's visibility as a disease. Even in leukemia, it's not that the immune system becomes stronger; rather, the very cells that should be protecting the body become abnormal.
Role of T cells in Fighting Cancer
Most activated T cells become either killer T cells, which destroy cancerous cells, or helper T cells, which manage immune responses by controlling other types of leukocytes. Some cancers, however, can present tumor antigens not recognized during the lymphocyte development process, thereby stimulating adaptive immune responses that can work to eliminate cancer cells. Nevertheless, when the immune system's response is ineffective, treatments like chemotherapy or radiation are often employed, despite their potential to harm healthy cells as well.