New cells wage war on cancer

LONDON - British scientists say they have developed immune system cells that can recognise and kill leukaemia cells without damaging healthy ones.

Dr Hans Stauss, one of the researchers at Hammersmith Hospital and Imperial College in London who engineered the cells, said they could form the basis for new treatments for the deadly blood cancer.

"The principle we have developed can be applied to almost all forms of leukaemia and could signal a huge step forward in how we treat the disease," he said.

The immune system T-cells recognise a marker, or label, on the cancerous cells produced by a gene called WT-1. The label allows them to pick out and destroy the cancerous cells.

"What makes this work even more exciting is that our findings can also be applied to solid cancers, such as breast or lung cancer. The possibilities for new treatments are enormous."

Stauss and his colleagues were able to engineer the immune cells after identifying the WT-1 gene during six years of research into leukaemia.

Early tests of the immune cells have been promising. The scientists said they hope to begin clinical trials with leukaemia patients within two years.

- REUTERS