Scientists have recently discovered why solid tumor cancers often come back after treatment, and relapse occurs. Most tumors rely on a small population of cancer stem cells, which can be thought of as the “evil twins” of normal, “good” stem cells: rather than dividing to repair and heal tissue, they divide to form tumors. The cancerous cells can cloak themselves from the immune system and avoid attack, which is how they survive even after chemo and radiation. Clinical trials in California are testing a treatment to identify and “uncloak” the cancerous stem cells from the immune system, and to make sure they are completely wiped out by treatment, and thereby decrease the chance of a relapse. 

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