Gene therapy and stem cells combine to battle cancer

UK scientists believe that they have found a treatment that may help a greater number of cancer patients beat the disease. The scientists, who work for Cancer Research UK, say they have developed a new method of transplanting stem cells into patients with certain forms of cancer.

Stem cell transplants can sometimes help to kill off tumours and are used mostly when more 'conventional' cancer treatments have failed. But the transplants are often followed by chemotherapy, which can kill the stem cells and cause serious side-effects.

The research team, based at the Paterson Institute in Manchester and led by Dr Raj Chopra, have now succeeded in genetically altering stem cells to make them resistant to chemotherapy. They added a gene called Atase to the cells by introducing a virus. Atase protects the stem cells from the harmful effects of chemotherapy treatment. The scientists believe that combining the use of the altered stem cells with a patient's normal chemical treatment doubles the effectiveness of the chemotherapy.

Following chemotherapy, only the transplanted stem cells remain, which multiply to fill the gaps left by the cancerous cells that were killed. 'The immune response is entirely generated by the cells we've transplanted' Dr Chopra said, adding 'the higher the proportion of donated stem cells, the stronger will be the immune system's anti-cancer effect. The end point s a treatment with the potential to be doubly effective'.