Clinical trials are underway for a cancer-fighting immune system booster
New treatment could soon turn cancer into a controllable chronic disease, according to recent findings by researchers in Australia.
The study, conducted by Professor Mark Smyth of the Peter McCallum Cancer Centre, found the immune system's natural equilibrium can act to decrease cancer's ability to replicate and also kill some of the cancerous cells.
The findings, which were published in Nature, have the potential to lead to treatment that would allow patients to live with "neutralised" cancers for the rest of their lives.
Doctors have long known that cancers can lie dormant in the body before suddenly coming to life. And during this dormant phase the immune system reduces a tumour's desire to grow and kills off some cancer cells, but not quickly enough to shrink or destroy the tumour.
Commenting in the Daily Mail, Prof Smyth said: "Further research and clinical validation of this process may also turn established cancers into a chronic condition, similar to other serious diseases that are controlled long-term by taking a medicine".
Professor Karol Sikora, medical director at CancerPartnersUK, said it showed how the body defends against cancer cells.
"Recently, the molecular mechanisms behind the immune destruction and control of cancer have been elucidated," he said. "This could lead to new treatments involving small molecules that stimulate the immune system, monoclonal antibodies or cancer vaccines. Many clinical trials are now underway in this exciting area."
