The
CyberKnife Centre London, home of the UK’s first robotic CyberKnife®
radiotherapy machine, is now recruiting patients as part of a major new
clinical trials programme.
The Centre, a division of The Harley Street Clinic, is recruiting patients with metastatic
colorectal cancer that
has spread to the liver. Patients who are no longer responding to chemotherapy
will take part in a clinical trial involving treatment by CyberKnife and a new
anti-cancer vaccine, Immodulon or IMM-101.
The
Centre has teamed up with Sarah Cannon Research Institute UK, (SCRI UK), a dedicated
Oncology clinical trials unit which is also based in Harley Street. SCRI UK will be administering the new
vaccine, recording its effectiveness and sending the data to Immodulon
Therapeutics (who manufacture the vaccine), and who will publish the results.
Selected
patients who have two or more metastatic tumours in the liver will be given the
vaccine, IMM-101. After 14 days, one of
the liver tumours in the liver will be ablated by hundreds of pencil thin beams
of radiotherapy delivered from many angles by CyberKnife. The same day the
patient will have a second infusion of the vaccine.
The
CyberKnife treatment will break down the cancer cell walls in one tumour
releasing antigens that will trigger and stimulate – with the help of the
vaccine - the body’s immune system to attack all the cancer cells in the body.
Patients
will be monitored utilising scans and blood tests to see how effective the
treatment of the both targeted liver tumour and others in the liver and
elsewhere, has been.
The
lead investigator for the trial is one of the UK’s most experienced oncologists
in the use of CyberKnife, Dr Andy Gaya.
“CyberKnife is increasingly becoming recognised as an invaluable tool
for treating liver tumours, especially from colorectal cancer. We are excited
about the potential for enabling a cancer vaccine to work more effectively when
combined with Cyberknife.”
Neil
Buckley, Chief Executive of The Harley Street Clinic where the CyberKnife is
based, said he hoped this trial would be the first of a series; “We are
delighted to be working in partnership with Dr Gaya and our sister clinical
trials organisation SCRI UK
to examine new and effective treatments for cancer,” he said.
The
Immodulon clinical trial will run for 12 months in conjunction with other units
in the UK
and overseas.
Cancer treatment news : 20 June 2012
