Cancer treatment breakthrough in Australia

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 20 Oct 2003 - 0:00 PDT

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Australian researchers are confident they have found a treatment that will be effective in tackling common cancers.

The world-first treatment has been successfully trialled on mice, with human trials possible in about two years.

An associate professor from the Peter McCallum Cancer Institute, Joe Trapani, says during the treatment, millions of white blood cells are removed, boosted with cancer fighting genes, and then re-injected.

He says the body's immune system then fights the tumour.

'We do know that the immune system does respond to cancer in many patients, but the nature of that response and the size of the response are insufficient to really affect the cancer growing in a major way,' Professor Trapani said.

'What we're hoping to do is sort of improve that sort of immune response to the tumour and help the immune system along,' he said.

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