Game-changing cancer treatment enters second clinical trial
<p>Game-changing low-cost and non-toxic treatment could offer people battling cancer a new alternative to chemotherapy.</p>
<p>Researchers at The Australian National University have discovered a way to use dead bacteria to help kickstart the body’s immune system and shrink the cancer.</p>
<p>Aude Fahrer, lead research at ANU said ongoing clinical trials of the Complete Freund Adjuvant treatment had shown promising results and could significantly improve outcomes for patients battling the disease.</p>
<p>“We do think it could be a game charger. If this works well, it will be a new treatment option with far fewer side effects, which will be available for cancer patients,” Associate professor Fahrer said.</p>
<p>Complete Freund Adjuvant is made up just three ingredients: mineral oil, surfactant, and dead bacteria.</p>
<p>Associate Professor Fahrer’s team tested the treatment on eight cancer patients at Canberra Hospital.</p>
<p>“They were all late stages, but in one case in particular we were able to significantly improve the patients’ quality of life,” she said.</p>
<p>The new treatment was able to reduce the amount of liquid around the patient’s lungs and shrunk their tumour.</p>
<p>Associate Professor Fahrer said the new approach was less time-consuming and physically taxing than other cancer treatments such as chemotherapy.</p>
<p>“The best things about this new treatment is that it requires few dosages, is simple to administer, and has how side effects,” she said.</p>
<p>Extreme hair loss, nausea, fatigue, and physical pain are just some of the impacts of chemotherapy.</p>
<p>And while some cancer immunotherapy treatments can cost up to $40,000, the ANU researcher’s new treatment is very affordable – clocking in at just $20 per dose.</p>
<p>The bacterial-based immunotherapy is a simple, but unusual approach to treating tumours.</p>
<p>“It involves injecting a slow-release solution of dead mycobacteria directly into the cancer,” Associate Professor Fahrer said.</p>
<p>“The idea is this will bring immune cells into the cancer to attack the bacteria, even though they’re dead, and as a side effect cause the immune cells to attack the cancer as well.</p>
<p>“Once the immune cells multiple they can travel around the body, so it would not only attack the cancer at the injection site, but any metastases – where the cancer has spread to another part of the body.”</p>
<p>While trials have only been conducted on late-stage human cancer patients so far, Associate Professor Fahrer said the new treatment was able to eliminate some earlier stage tumours in animal studies.</p>
<p>If the new treatment continues to show success in clinical trials, researchers say the treatment has the potential to help treat all forms of solid tumour cancer.</p>
<p>Ms Fahrer’s research was largely funded by the Lea Chapuis Memorial Fund, a cancer patient who’s dying wish was to improve treatment options for sick Australians.</p>
<p>“Lea asked people to contribute to the research in lieu of flowers when she passed way,” Associate Professor Fahrer said.</p>
<p>A second clinical trial of the new treatment at the Canberra Hospital has already been approved.</p>
