A radical new treatment for lung cancer – using the latest medical techniques – is to be tested on NHS patients this year, it was announced today.
The treatment will combine gene therapy with the use of stem cells, researchers said.
Genetic alterations will mean the stem cells can embed a powerful anti-cancer gene in tumours.
The project is being backed by the UK Medical Research Council and will be undertaken at University College Hospital, London.
The treatment has been tested successfully on laboratory mice and will now be tried first on human volunteers before 56 lung cancer patients are invited to test it.
Patients will receive three infusions with a total of nearly one billion cells with the gene, known as TRAIL or Tumour Necrosis Factor related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand.
This will mean 100 billion cells have to be created in a laboratory at the Royal Free Hospital, London, over the next three years. Researchers say that unlike stem cell transplants, the cells do not have to be matched to recipients.
Researcher Sam Janes said: “We aim to improve prospects for lung cancer patients by using a highly targeted therapy using stem cells, which have an innate tendency to home to home in on tumours when they’re injected into the body.
"Once there, they switch on a kill pathway in the cancer cells, leaving healthy surrounding cells untouched. If clinical trials are successful, our treatment could be transformative for the treatment of lung cancer, and possibly other types of tumour in future.”
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