Media release – WORLD FIRST BREAKTHROUGH IN CANCER TREATMENT

Victorian scientists have made a world- first breakthrough in the fight against cancer, which could give millions of patients a chance of prolonging their lives or even beating the disease, Premier Steve Bracks has announced.

Victorian scientists have made a world- first breakthrough in the fight against cancer, which could give millions of patients a chance of prolonging their lives or even beating the disease, Premier Steve Bracks has announced.The breakthrough, announced overnight by the Premier at the worlds biggest scientific convention, BIO2003 conference in Washington, is being hailed as one of the most significant advances in cancer treatment in decades.Six of the worlds top hospitals will test the research on 100 cancer patients within the next year, while in Switzerland a further 50 HIV/AIDS patients will take part in trials.Already outstanding results have been shown in a Melbourne trial of 16 prostate cancer patients.Tests with 20 leukaemia patients have been so encouraging the number on the trial has now doubled.At the Monash University labs at the Alfred Hospital in Prahran, Acting Premier John Thwaites also welcomed the research, saying it could make a difference to the lives of thousands of people. The treatment involves kick-starting the thymus the central organ for creating the immune system to produce new immune cells, or T cells. The treatment also boosts the bone marrow the producer of stem cells for the thymus and all other blood cells.Mr Bracks said the new treatment, which should be widely available within just two years, increased a patients ability to fight cancer and other deadly diseases such as HIV/AIDS. The world has been waiting for a breakthrough like this, and Victorian scientists have delivered it, Mr Bracks said. Our biomedical research community was already ranked among the worlds best this discovery cements Victorias reputation as a leader in scientific research.It shows we have the knowledge and the courage to finance, manage and market a groundbreaking discovery from the laboratory to the bedside. Patents filed by Monash University in collaboration with leading Melbourne biotech company, Norwood Abbey, are potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Victoria.Among the six hospitals testing the research following the trials in Melbourne are the Dana-Farber Hospital in Boston, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York and the Royal Free Hospital in London.The treatment has been developed by Monash Universitys Department of Pathology andImmunology.Media contact: Jane Wilson on 0407 831456 www.vic.gov.auAssociate Professor Richard Boyd, head of immunology at the National Stem Cell Centre in Melbourne, said the thymus, which sits in the chest cavity and is involved in all immune responses, was one of the first of the bodys tissues to degenerate with age.One of the natural inhibitors which leads to that degeneration is sex steroids. We have found by turning off Mother Nature and shutting down the sex steroids, the thymus is able to recharge and produce more immune cells, he said.That is achieved with a simple implant under the skin which has few side-effects and gives atients a much greater chance of fighting cancer and other diseases which attack the immune system.There is a global need for this treatment and every single patient should have a shot at this it is not going to cure everyone, but it gives everybody at least a fighting chance.In patients with diseases such as cancer and HIV, autoimmune diseases, even transplant injection, the possibility of creating a new thymus with its unlimited store of new immune cells provides new hope.Professor Boyd said initial analysis of trials involving 16 prostate cancer patients at the Alfred Hospital between 2000 and 2001 had yielded outstanding results.Between 60-80 per cent of patients experienced significant improvement, with an average 50 per cent increase in the number of new T cells created, he said.The treatment was then extended to 20 leukaemia patients at the Alfred Hospital and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne with very encouraging results. A further 20 patients have joined this trial, which is due to end early next year.Professor Boyd said the treatment was also important for the fight against HIV/AIDS.It will be tested in a US National Institutes of Health associated trial in Switzerland of patients with HIV, to see whether or not their low T cell counts can be boosted and their viral infection reduced.Norwood Abbey is also in the final stages of negotiating commercial arrangements with international pharmaceutical firms to bring this treatment to the public.(Source: Media release. From the Premier of Victoria, Tuesday, June 24 2003)