Cancer chemotherapy can be a life-saver, but it could be fraught with severe side effects, among them an increased risk of infection. Until now, the major criterion for assessing this risk has been the blood cell count: if the number of white blood cells falls below a critical threshold, the risk of infection is thought to be high. A new model built by Weizmann Institute mathematicians in collaboration with physicians from the Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba, Israel and from the Hoffmann-La Roche research center in Basel, Switzerland, suggests that for proper risk assessment, it is essential to evaluate not only the quantity of these blood cells, but also their quality, which varies from one person to another. Read more here.
Study mentioned: Malka R, et al. Evidence for bistable bacteria-neutrophil interaction and its clinical implications. J Clin Invest. 2012 Aug 1;122(8):3002-11. PMID: 22820292
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