Promising new brain cancer vaccine created with tumour cells

Scientists are hopeful a new brain cancer vaccine, made using patients’ own tumour cells, can extend life expectancy in terminal cases.

The vaccine is individual for each patient and, when used with standard treatment, has been found to increase lives by several months or more.

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"These results are provocative," said neurosurgeon Andrew Parsa, who led the research. "They suggest that doctors may be able to extend survival even longer by combining the vaccine with other drugs that enhance this immune response."

The trial focused on a particular type of brain cancer called glioblastoma. Around 4,700 people in the UK are diagnosed with it each year and it kills 98% of sufferers within five years.

Using proteins taken from surgically removed tumours, the surgeons were able to create personalised vaccines. When used in the trail of 80 patients, these increased life from an average 32 to 47 weeks. The next step is to combine the treatment with Avastin, a cancer drug currently used to treat the condition.