![New hope in fight to beat prostate cancer as ‘miracle’ immunotherapy trial targets protein that allows tumours to grow](https://chadlaw.dnsupdate.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/dreamstime_s_21732712-740x388.jpg)
18
May 2021
New hope in fight to beat prostate cancer as ‘miracle’ immunotherapy trial targets protein that allows tumours to grow
Researchers have discovered that a key protein may provide the secret to treating prostate cancer patients with ‘miracle’ immunotherapy drugs.
Clinical trials have now started, with the aim of unleashing cancer-killing white blood cells to attack and destroy the tumours.
Immunotherapies have had spectacular results against some types of cancer, but until now they have failed to be effective against prostate cancer and researchers have not been able to work out why.
Now, scientists at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London and the Institute of Cancer Research believe they have the answer within a protein called CD38. The cancer hijacks white blood cells called B-cells and manipulates them to make CD38.
Research suggests it then deprives the other cancer-destroying white blood cells of the energy they need to attack the tumour, meaning that drugs that target the protein could unleash the power of the immune system on the cancer cells.
Researcher Professor Johann de Bono, said “There’s a lot of evidence that prostate cancer causes what we call immune tolerance – that the cancer suppresses the body from attacking it with its immune cells.
“Our findings suggest that we can target immune cells displaying CD38 proteins to awaken the immune system.”
Professor Paul Workman of the Institute of Cancer Research said of the findings “Studies like this are critical in helping us understand how prostate cancer interacts with the body’s immune defences and could help pave the way for more effective treatments.”
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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.
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