Leukaemia and lymphoma sufferers will have access to a potentially life-saving cancer treatment using genetically modified immune cells, courtesy of an Australian-first clinical trial out of Westmead.<\/p>\n
Leukaemia and lymphoma sufferers will have access to a potentially life-saving cancer treatment using genetically modified immune cells, courtesy of an Australian-first clinical trial out of Westmead.<\/p>\n
A team of researchers and clinicians from Westmead Institute for Medical Research (WIMR) and Westmead Hospital, led by Professor David Gottlieb, recently received final TGA and ethics approvals for the trial \u2013 the first of its kind to be approved in Australia – with phase 1 clinical trials set to kick off in August 2017.<\/p>\n
The trial will use a Westmead-designed gene-altering leukaemia and lymphoma treatment, enabling immune cells that have been genetically engineered to hone in, and attack, tumors.<\/p>\n
Lead researcher Dr Kenneth Micklethwaite said he hoped the treatment would benefit patients with otherwise incurable blood cancers and offer them access to effective treatments, currently unavailable in Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor many patients, despite heavy chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants, their leukaemia and lymphoma cannot be eradicated, often resulting in death,\u201d he said,<\/p>\n
\u201cThis new approach to cell and gene therapy for cancer is exciting because it harnesses the power of the immune system to fight the cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really offers an alternative for patients who are no longer responding to chemotherapy \u2013 we hope this approach will significantly increase the number of people we treat and cure, without using chemotherapy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The treatment involves collecting t-cells, a type of immune cell, from a simple blood draw and then genetically engineering them in a laboratory to produce special receptors on their surface called chimeric antigen receptors (CARs).<\/p>\n
These engineered CAR t-cells are then infused into the patient, and with guidance from the newly engineered receptor, the cells recognise and kill cancer cells that carry the antigen on their surfaces.<\/p>\n
Westmead Hospital head of cell therapies Professor David Gottlieb said he hoped the new trials would finally give Australians access to this kind of treatment \u2013 at a fraction of the cost of similar treatments being developed internationally.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile initial trials conducted in the US have been highly encouraging, these trials are inaccessible to Australian patients, except those willing to travel overseas and pay up to $1 million,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis trial is exciting for Westmead as our trials are built on home-grown research, and our CAR t-cells are developed through an entirely Australian-based manufacturing process.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe long term goal of our research is to make CAR t-cells affordable and widely accessible to Australian patients as quickly as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new trial is part of a series of trials, conducted in Prof Gottlieb\u2019s research group at WIMR, aimed at strengthening immunity to infection in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy and other toxic treatments.<\/p>\n
Patients who may be interested in participating in the trial should speak to their GP or specialist about their suitability.<\/p>\n
Dr Kenneth Micklethwaite<\/strong>\u00a0is a lead cancer researcher at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research and a haematologist and blood and marrow stem cell transplant physician at Westmead Hospital.<\/p>\n Professor David Gottlieb<\/strong>\u00a0is the group leader of the Bone Marrow Transplant & Cell Therapies Group at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research and a senior physician in the Westmead Hospital Blood and Marrow Transplant Unit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Leukaemia and lymphoma sufferers will have access to a potentially life-saving cancer treatment using genetically modified immune cells, courtesy of an Australian-first clinical trial out of Westmead. Leukaemia and lymphoma sufferers will have access to a potentially life-saving cancer treatment using genetically modified immune cells, courtesy of an Australian-first clinical trial out of Westmead. A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2637,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"categories":[19],"class_list":["post-2636","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cat-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/2636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}