Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia Clinical Study
In December 2007 Malaghan Institute Clinical Research Fellow Dr Robert Weinkove launched a new clinical study into chronic lymphocytic leukaemia or CLL, the most common blood cancer in New Zealand.
The prevalence of CLL increases with age, reaching 1 in 400 in individuals over 70 years old. Although many CLL patients never need treatment, a significant number of patients are diagnosed at a young age or have aggressive disease, exhausting conventional therapies. Bone marrow transplantation is the only curative treatment and involves replacing the immune system of patients with that of a matched donor. Part of the reason that bone marrow transplants work is that the new (donor) immune system recognises the patients' cancerous cells as foreign and destroys them. This is a good demonstration of how immune therapies can successfully cure established cancers in humans.
Bone marrow transplantation is not without its problems however. Not all patients find a donor, patients are prone to infections for months or even years afterwards, and the treatment itself is so toxic that it is not suitable for many patients. There is an urgent need for more targeted immune therapies, which generate an immune response against cancer without the risks of bone marrow transplants.
The goal of Dr Weinkove's research is to examine the potential of using patients' own immune systems to fight their leukaemia. Working in conjunction with the Wellington Blood and Cancer Centre, and Dr Ian Hermans and Professor Franca Ronchese from the Malaghan Institute, Dr Weinkove will compare the immune systems of patients with CLL with those of healthy volunteers.
The focus of this study is a rare type of blood cell called the natural killer T (NKT) cell, which is capable of directing the body's immune system. Dr Weinkove believes that NKT cells could be used to improve responses to cancer vaccination, and help ‘train' the immune system to recognise leukaemic cells as foreign. This research complements the dendritic cell cancer vaccination programme at the Malaghan Institute.
If the results of this study prove promising, Dr Weinkove will use this translational research to develop future clinical trials of immunotherapy for CLL and other cancers.
