Will New Study Find Cancer Cure??

Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center scientists will be conducting a trial to test a new cancer treatment which has promise of eradicating cancer in humans. The treatment involves getting specific white cells from select donors and infusing the white cells into patients who have advanced forms of cancer.

This new trial, approved by the Food and Drug Administration, is based on the discovery, about five years ago, of a cancer-resistant mouse. Later findings showed that white blood cells from that mouse and its offspring cured advanced cancers in ordinary lab mice. Since then, they have discovered that the white blood cells of some humans carry the same cancer-killing capability.

Zheng Cui, Ph.D., lead researcher and associate professor of pathology, announced the study June 28th at the Understanding Aging conference in Los Angeles.

“In mice, we’ve been able to eradicate even highly aggressive forms of malignancy with extremely large tumors,” Cui said. “Hopefully, we will see the same results in humans. Our laboratory studies indicate that this cancer-fighting ability is even stronger in healthy humans.”

The team has tested, in the laboratory, cancer-fighting cells against cervical, prostrate and breast cancer cells with good results. The anti-tumor response involves granulocytes, the most abundant type of white blood cell in humans. They can be donated without the donor losing other components of the blood. The team has indicated that up to three donors may be needed to collect enough blood product for one study recipient.

“The difference between our study and the traditional white cell therapy is that we’re selecting the healthy donors based on the cancer-killing ability of their white blood cells,” said Cui. The scientists are calling the therapy Leukocyte InFusion Therapy (LIFT).

The goal of the phase II study is to determine whether patients can tolerate a sufficient amount of transfused granulocytes for the treatment. Participants will be monitored on a regular basis, and after three months scientists will evaluate whether the treatment results in clear clinical benefits for the patients. If this phase of the study is successful, scientists will expand the study to determine if the treatment is best suited to certain types of cancer.