Scientists harness immune system to prevent lymphoma relapse

18 Oct 2012 The University of Manchester researchers, who were funded by the charities Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research and Cancer Research UK, have shown that, when used in conjunction with radiotherapy, the new drug is potentially four times more likely to lead to long-term survival than radiotherapy alone. Relapse is a common fate for many lymphoma patients and new treatments are desperately needed. The new research, which is published online in Blood , the Journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), shows that the chemical R848 can be used to prime the immune system to fight cancer. R848 is a chemical which signals to certain molecules known as receptors found on the surface of immune cells, triggering them into action. Receptors play a key role in the function of the immune cell by recognising harmful agents and instructing the cell to respond. It was shown that injections of R848 can generate a rapid expansion of specific anti-lymphoma immune cells known as 'killer'T cells'. Simon Dovedi, of The University of Manchester's Institute of Cancer Sciences and the Manchester Cancer Research Centre, who conducted the research in the Targeted Therapy Group led by Professor Tim Illidge, said: "Excitingly we think that this new approach to treating cancer could be capable of giving patients a better response to conventional therapies through the generation of a lymphoma-specific immune response against tumour cells.