No matter where cancer cells grow in the human body, they are a threat to our health and our lives. But instead of treating them with chemotherapy or radiation - which have undesirable side effects - what if we could train our own immune systems to kill the rogue cells?

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have developed a first-of-its-kind mRNA system that switches on therapeutic genes preferentially inside targeted cells-an advance demonstrated in studies in mice that could lay the groundwork for safer, more precise treatments for cancer and other diseases.