Gene therapy leads way in hunt for cancer cure

GENE therapy is being hailed by a leading cancer research unit as a possible cure for the disease.

The Cork Cancer Research Centre says it is “excited” by pre-clinical results.

The results show that injecting two particular genes into a tumour sends the immune system into overdrive so the body attacks the tumour — killing the disease.

This treatment, it says, helps avoid surgery and is less invasive and toxic than the traditional surgical/chemotherapy/radiotherapy approach.

So far, research has only been completed on animals but in the next 12 to15 months, it is hoped trials can begin on humans with malignant melanoma.

If the treatment is successful, it could be another five to six years before it is fully endorsed. The centre wants to deliver the gene therapy in tandem with electrochemotherapy which it has been successfully administering to patients in Cork.

In electrochemotherapy, minuscule electro pulses, one hundredth of a millisecond, are administered to tumour tissue, making them more porous. When the tumour is more porous, it is better able to absorb anti-tumour drugs such as Bleomycin.

This part of cancer treatment has been trialled on human patients and has shown an 85% positive response rate.

Up to 30 doctors and scientists are working on the two-pronged cancer treatment.

Cork Cancer Research Centre general manager and scientist Dr Declan Soden said electro pulse therapy had no side effects, wasn’t invasive and produced no toxins — unlike conventional surgery and chemotherapy.

“We would use the electro-chemotherapy to treat the primary tumour and then use the gene therapy, which is also administered using electric pulses, on the secondary tumours which cause the cancer to spread.

“This treatment appears to be effective but it is also economical as due to the increased absorption of the tumour, you use less drugs. The lack of surgery also means that you spend less time in hospital and the patient has less invasive treatment,” he said.

“I’d rather see the costs of drugs kept down and more money spent on screening and prevention instead.”

If the centre conducts a clinical study to carry out gene therapy in patients; it will be the first of its kind in Ireland.

On May 15 and 16, the Irish and British Societies for Cell and Gene Therapy, in conjunction with the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy of Cancer will hold their annual conference in Cork.