WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Sept. 20 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a project allowing blood from "cancer resistant" people to be given cancer patients to fight the disease.
Dr. Zheng Cui, an assistant professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and colleagues will screen people for their ability to fight cancer with immune cells called granulocytes.
In an earlier study, Cui took blood samples from more than 100 people and mixed their granulocytes with cervical cancer cells. While granulocytes from one individual killed around 97 percent of cancer cells within 24 hours, those from another healthy individual killed approximately 2 percent of cancer cells.
Average cancer-killing ability appeared to be lower in adults over the age of 50 and even lower in people with cancer. It also fell when people were stressed and at certain times of the year.
Cui said he hoped to begin U.S. human trials next summer when the immune systems of potential granulocyte donors will be at their peak.
Preliminary results of his research were presented this month at the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence meeting at Britain's University of Cambridge.
