Researchers at the Rogosin Institute are engaged in an early-stage study of a whole new approach to fighting cancer. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, investigators want to see if a therapy that relies on tumor cells taken from mice can either stop the growth of tumors, stymie them or eliminate them in patients with advanced cancers.
It's early days yet for the study involving 30 humans, but newly published animal research indicates that the researchers may be on to something. To make the therapy, investigators extract tumor cells from mice and encase them in a sugar before they are implanted in the abdomen. The theory is that the cancer beads secrete proteins that attack the cancer--essentially fighting cancer with cancer.
"This is a completely novel way of thinking about cancer biology," NCI researcher Howard Parnes tells the Journal. "We talk about thinking outside the box. It's hard to think of a better example."
- here's the article from the Wall Street Journal