New Cancer Treatment Enters into Human Testing Phase

By Jayne Schaefer

Scientists at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center are about to begin a human trial testing the effectiveness of a new cancer treatment. The treatment involves transfusing specific white blood cells called granulocytes from select donors to patients with advanced forms of cancer. Zheng Cui (Tswee) Ph.D., lead researcher and associate professor of pathology, announced the study on June 28, 2008 at the Understanding Aging Conference in Los Angeles.

This new cancer therapy, Leukocyte Infusion Therapy (LIFT), developed from research results studying natural cancer resistance in a unique strain of a lab mouse and some healthy humans.

Scientists encountered a mouse that unexpectedly survived repeated injections of a lethal form of cancer. This cancer-fighting trait was inherited by the mouse’s offspring enabling subsequent generations of mice to fight off cancer cells with their own white blood cells. White blood cells from the mouse and its offspring were injected into laboratory mice with advanced cancers producing cancer-free results. Subsequently, researchers identified similar cancer-killing activity (CKA) in the white blood cells of humans.

The CKA found in humans is a kind of leukocyte called granulocyte. It is the most abundant type of white blood cell and part of the body’s first line of immunological defense. During LIFT, these white blood cells collected from healthy donors are transfused to cancer patients with severe granulocyte deficiency.

LIFT differs from other cell therapies in that donors are selected according to their high levels of CKA. According to Mark Willingham, M.D., a co-researcher and professor of pathology, “if this study is effective, it would be another arrow in the quiver of treatments aimed at cancer.”

For more information about the study and qualification for donors and participants, go to the website: www.wfubmc.edu/LIFT.

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