A new type of immunotherapy could help to treat bone cancer, new research suggests. Developed by UCL researchers, the treatment has shown promising results against a bone cancer called osteosarcoma. Osteosarcoma is relatively rare, with around 160 new cases each year in the UK, but is the most common bone cancer in teenagers.
More than 150,000 people suffer from cancer that has spread to the bones. The study in mice found that using a small subset of immune cells, called gamma-delta T cells, could provide an efficient and cost-effective solution to the cancer – which is often resistant to chemotherapy. These cells are a less well-known type of immune cell that can be made from healthy donor immune cells.
They can safely be given from one person to another, without the risk of potentially life-threatening graft-versus-host disease. In order to manufacture the cells, blood is taken from a healthy donor, and the cells are then engineered to release tumour targeting antibodies and immune stimulating chemicals, before being injected into the patient with cancer in the bone. This new treatment delivery platform is called OPS-gamma-delta T.
Lead author, Dr Jonathan Fisher, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and UCLH , said: “Current immunotherapies such as CAR-T cells (another type of immunotherapy using genetically modified immune cells) use the patient’s own immune cells and engineer them to improve their cancer-killing properties. “However, this is expensiv.
