‘Immune system can fight brain tumours’
Scientists have found that one of the most serious types of brain tumour, glioblastoma multiforme, could be fought by the patients’ own immune system.
Researchers at Lund University in Sweden tested different ways of stimulating the immune system, suppressed by the tumour, with a “vaccine”.
The vaccine was based on tumour cells that were genetically modified to start producing substances that activate the immune system. The modified tumour cells (irradiated so that they cannot divide and spread the disease) were combined with other substances that form part of the body’s immune system. The treatment produced good results in animal experiments: 75% of the rats that received the treatment were completely cured of their brain tumours. “Human biology is more complicated, so we perhaps cannot expect such good results in patients. However, bearing in mind the poor prognosis patients receive today, all progress is important,” said doctoral student Sara Fritzell, part of the research group. She has previously tested combining the activation of the immune system with chemotherapy. When the chemotherapy was applied directly to the tumour site, the positive effects reinforced each other, and a huge 83% of the mice survived. “Our idea is in the future to give patients chemotherapy in conjunction with the operation to remove as much of the tumour as possible,” said Sara Fritzell.
Post new comment