A groundbreaking NHS immunotherapy study targeting the most lethal type of brain tumour has begun enrolling participants following an extraordinary case where a patient's cancer completely disappeared.

The research focuses on glioblastoma and will involve 16 participants receiving the drug ipilimumab before conventional therapies, when patients' immune responses remain strongest.

University College London Hospital's 18-month programme at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery represents a revival of earlier research that had stalled due to recruitment challenges.

Dr Paul Mulholland, the consultant medical oncologist spearheading the research, emphasised the trial's innovative timing: 

"The crucial element of this trial is that patients will have their immune system boosted by the drug before they have any other treatment, when they are fit and well enough to tolerate the immunotherapy."

The Win-Glio trial will administer ipilimumab to newly diagnosed patients, aiming to harness their immune systems at maximum capacity before beginning radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Source: Gbnews