New `alarm signal` to give alerts on recurring cancer

London: Researchers have designed an 'alarm signal' for the immune system which offers an "invaluable" early warning of recurring cancer.

Scientists believe that the new discovery will help in catching recurring cancers before they take hold and help increase patients' survival chances as successfully treated cancer often returns years later, the Independent reported.

The team has also found that rousing dormant cancers could weaken them and ultimately lead to their destruction by the body defenses.The alarm would help doctors detect early signs of the disease and give them a valuable head start, allowing them to attack a tumor before it begins to spread.

The findings are reported in the journal Nature Medicine.