We’ve wanted to run the headline “Cancer Cured!” for a long, long time, and now we may have the chance without it being just a grim joke.
T-Cell therapies, where a patient’s immune cells are removed, modified, and returned to the patient to fight their cancer, are the cutting edge of cancer treatment. Welsh scientists at Cardiff University think they’ve developed a new type of ‘killer cell’ that targets virtually all types of cancer cells, without destroying the healthy cells around them.
Currently, modified T-cell therapies target only a few types of cancer, aren’t very discriminating about protecting healthy cells, and must be personally tailored to each patient. This new version attacks the solid tumors that represent most cancers, leaves healthy cells untouched, and can be created as a ‘one-size-fits-all’ treatment that avoids the expense and difficulty of personally tailored treatments.
“T-cells equipped with the new TCR were shown, in the lab, to kill lung, skin, blood, colon, breast, bone, prostate, ovarian, kidney and cervical cancer cells while ignoring healthy cells.” This showed “encouraging” cancer-clearing results which the researchers said was comparable to the now NHS-approved CAR-T therapy in a similar animal model.
Read all about it…
Immune discovery ‘may treat all cancer’, James Gallagher in BBC Health, Jan 2020
The ‘killer’ cells treatment by Welsh scientists that could make a huge difference in the fight against cancer, by Mark Smith, Health Correspondent, Wales Online, Jan 2020
Breakthrough discovery could lead to ‘one-size-fits-all’ cancer treatment, Nina Massey in The Independent, Jan 2020
Support the Welsh cancer center where this breakthrough was created…
