Researchers at UCL have developed a promising new immunotherapy using gamma-delta T cells for osteosarcoma and other bone metastases, showing significant preclinical success. This innovative approach, termed OPS-gdT, is set to enter early-phase clinical trials after demonstrating its potential to effectively control tumor growth in mouse models. Credit: SciTechDaily.com
Cancer that starts in or spreads to the bones is particularly hard to treat, meaning that it is a leading cause of cancer-related death. It is also frequently resistant to chemotherapy, so new treatments are needed., found that using a small subset of immune cells, called gamma-delta T cells could provide an efficient and cost-effective solution.
“An alternative is to use an ‘off the shelf’ treatment made from healthy donor immune cells, but in order to do this care must be taken to avoid graft-versus-host disease, where the donor immune cells attack the patient’s body. Dr. Fisher said: “Thousands upon thousands of people have cancer that spreads to the bones. There is currently very little that can be done to cure these patients. However, this is an exciting step forward in finding a potential new treatment.