Killer cells could cure cancer

Professors Joe Trapani and Mark Smyth from Melbourne’s Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre are close to bringing their breakthrough treatment to the public with clinical trials beginning soon.

Smyth and Trapani have modified and improved an old technology known as adoptive immunotherapy as a potential new treatment for cancer in an upcoming clinical trial at Peter Mac.

“The ability of the immune system to identify and destroy tumour cells has been debated for many decades. For the first time our research has proven the immune system definitively plays a role in preventing the onset of cancer,” Smyth said.

“Understanding how tumour immune surveillance works, a process whereby ‘killer cells’ of the immune system can specifically identify and eliminate tumour cells on the basis of their expression of tumour-specific antigens or molecules is an exciting breakthrough,” he said.

“Our studies have also shed light on how a critical toxin called perforin, produced by the ‘killer cells’, triggers cancer cell death,” he said.

“Overall, our studies have validated the importance of perforin and means we can now explore novel ways to regulate its activity to treat cancer as well as some auto-immune diseases such as, type one diabetes where perforin plays a role.”

Adoptive immunotherapy involves extracting white blood cells from a cancer patient, and genetically modifying these cells to express receptors capable of recognising and targeting the cancerous cells.

The modified cells are then infused back into the patient where they seek out and kill the cancerous cells.

“Our new knowledge of immunotherapy is allowing us to modify a patient’s own white blood cells to enhance the ability of those cells to detect and destroy cancer cells when infused back into the patient,” Professor Trapani said.

“Being able to take this research into a clinical trial setting is an exciting milestone for us after a lifetime of research. If the results are as positive as we hope, we may have found a potentially powerful new treatment to support surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy in eliminating established cancer,” he said.

Trapani and Smyth are experts in natural and passive immunity to cancer, having each published over 200 articles in leading peer-reviewed journals, with their research partnership spanning close to two decades.

Smyth and Trapani were presented with the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Award for Research Excellence last night for their breakthrough research.

“We are delighted to be honoured with this award from GlaxoSmithKline, and thank them for their commitment to sponsoring Australian research,” Trapani said.

“We would also like to acknowledge the invaluable support and contributions we have received from all those colleagues who have been involved in the research throughout our 18-year partnership,” Smyth said.

“We are proud to acknowledge the lifetime achievements of Professors Trapani and Smyth towards improving our understanding of immunology and its potential application in treating cancer,” Deborah Waterhouse, General Manager Pharmaceuticals GSK Australia and New Zealand said.

First presented in 1980, the GSK Award for Research Excellence is awarded annually to recognise Australian scientists for their research discoveries that have the potential to lead to significant benefits in human health.

Recipients of the GSK Award for Research Excellence receive an honorarium of $60,000 to further their work. A requirement of the award is that the majority of the research is undertaken in Australia.