In a recent study, researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine successfully cured mice of cancer. Already, patients diagnosed with lymphoma are being sought out to undergo clinical trials with this same technique. The vaccine worked with several different types of cancers.
A team lead by Ronald Levy and Idit Sagiv-Barfi found that an injection to the tumors of two immune-stimulating agents would completely eliminate all the cancer in the tested animals. This included even secondary growths that weren’t initially injected. Researchers are hoping to the find the same success in human trials as this technique would be a much less expensive and less damaging cancer treatment.
During the study, 90 mice received transplants of lymphoma tumors in two areas of their bodies. Out of those 90 mice 87 were successfully cured of cancer. Out of those cured, only 3 mice showed a redevelopment of tumors, but after a second treatment they again regressed. After conducting the lymphoma study, they used the same technique on mice with cancerous melanoma, colon and breast tumors. The results? Successful.
Ronald shares that what’s so great about this treatment is that it doesn’t need to be customized to the patient’s immune cells, eliminating any specific targeting, yet it still has amazing results by eliminating all the tumors in the body. One of the agents used is already approved for human trials, while the other has already been used in other unrelated trials. With everything set in place to continue tests, human clinical trials have been launched, and trials will begin shortly for lymphoma patients.
Ronald Levy has focused on cancer immunotherapy for some time, hoping to utilize the immune system fully to fight cancers. In his time, he developed a monoclonal antibody called rituximab, which was approved and used for cancer treatment in humans.
“I don’t think there’s a limit to the type of tumor we could potentially treat, as long as it has been infiltrated by the immune system,” shared Levy.
Levy and his researchers believe this could be a huge game-changer to treating, and even curing, cancer.
