In January 2024, the UK’s NHS announced that a “ground-breaking” vaccine for the treatment of early bowel cancer will be trialled in patients as part of a “worldwide” collaboration between Royal Surrey and teams in Australia. The trial will be run by the Cancer Research UK Southampton Clinical Trials Unit at the University of Southampton and Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide. At 10 enrolment sites, 44 patients will participate over an 18-month period. Bowel cancer is the “third most common cancer”, with a global annual incidence of over 1.2 million cases and a mortality rate of around 50%.
The chief investigator of the trial and Consultant Medical Oncologist, Dr Tony Dhillon, has been working with Professor Tim Price in Australia for four years. The vaccine has been developed with Imugene’s technology. It will be used in patients before surgery, with the intention of encouraging the body to attack the cancer and reducing the invasiveness of the surgery. Furthermore, the vaccine could support the immune system’s later response if there is a relapse.
Patients will have an endoscopy and tissue sample to check eligibility for the trial. If they can participate, they will receive three doses before surgery to remove the cancer.
High hopes
Dr Dhillon commented that this vaccine is the “first treatment vaccine in any gastrointestinal cancer”.
“We have high hopes that it will be very successful. We think that for a lot of patients, the cancer will have gone completely after this treatment.”
Dr Dhillon feels “as if we are on the edge of something really big here” as he looks forward to the “ground-breaking” trial of a vaccine that enables the immune system to “go after the cancer”. This could be “life changing” for patients who “may not need to have surgery”.
“The work we have done here at Royal Surrey is fantastic. We are hugely proud to have been involved in this worldwide trial and believe it could be key to treating bowel cancer in the future.”
Chief Executive Louise Stead is “hugely proud” to be involved in this work.
“As the fourth largest cancer centre in the UK, helping to fight cancer is a huge part of what we do, and this will really provide an opportunity for bowel cancer patients and give them real hope of beating the disease.”
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