Leukaemia patients will be treated with genetically modified immune cells in a pioneering British trial that could transform treatment for the disease.
Patients in the trial, which is due to begin within months, will be the first in Europe to receive the therapy, which relies on “souping up” a patient’s white blood cells so that they attack cancer cells.
When a similar therapy was tested in the US for another aggressive form of leukaemia, it was effective in nearly 90 per cent of trial participants — more than triple the rate for chemotherapy.
“The idea of harnessing the immune system to fight cancers is a new approach and some early trial results have been spectacular,” said Keith Thompson, chief executive of the Cell Therapy Catapult