The large-scale clinical trial of the first big test of natural killer that can destroy tumor cells will start either this year end or early in 2017.
Adaptimmune, a biotech company based near Oxford, has signed a $500m (£350m) deal with the drugs giant GSK to organize the first large clinical trial, involving up to 100 cancer patients, of its genetically engineered T-cell technology, which has been shown to be safe and remarkably effective in earlier, smaller trials on 12 solid-tumour patients, reports Sunshine Cost Daily.
Patients suffering from advanced stages of cancer is expected to participate in the clinical trial which is being planned in the US and Europe, including Britain. This therapy is expected to target the tumors where conventional therapies have failed.
The trial encompasses the concept of immuno-oncology where the body's immune defenses act to combat the disease. Many researchers consider this therapy to be one of the most promising researches to fight cancer developed until now since the development of chemotherapy.
T-cells are important part of the immune system as they can combat infections caused due to the entry of any foreign body and researchers are certain that a patient's T-cells can be manipulated to identify and kill tumor cells.
Many cases support the theory of natural killer cells fighting cancer cells includes clinical trials and have been seen to produce astounding results on liquid cancers such as blood cancer. One of the most famous cases revealed earlier this year was that of a one-year-old girl who was cured from an aggressive form of leukemia after a transfusion of donated, engineered T-cells at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.
Therefore, now scientists hope to try this effective T-cell therapy to work on "solid" cancers, which is quite challenging to treat because of the cancer cells hiding deep inside the tumor.
