CLEVELAND, July 7 (UPI) -- T cells taken from patients with melanoma can be multiplied by more than a hundredfold, activated and injected back into patients to initiate an immune system response that attacks the cancer, according to a new study.
Case Western Reserve University, where the technique was pioneered, will be conducting a two-year clinical trial to test the approach using what researchers there refer to as customized cancer treatment.
"Immune cells in our bodies fight cancer naturally but can become overwhelmed," said Julian Kim, M.D., a professor of surgery in the School of Medicine, in a press release. "Complex cell therapies, with billions of new immune cells, try to get the balance back to where our bodies are controlling the cancer."
Using immune cells that have been exposed to growing melanoma in the bodies of stage 3 cancer patients, researchers then surgically remove lymph nodes so that the process of activating and growing the T cells can be regulated.
"The infusion of activated T cells has demonstrated promising results and is an area of great potential for the treatment of patients with cancer," Kim said. "Our goal is to eventually combine these T cells with other immune therapies which will result in cures."
The melanoma trial is one of two immunologically-based clinical trials that draws on the patient's own body for support in fighting cancer.
The study is published in the Journal of Immunotherapy.
