'Blood' transfusion to cure cancer?
20 September 2007
A white-blood-cell transfusion could help patients fight off cancer, say US scientists. They've shown it can completely destroy tumours in mice, and they've just got the go-ahead for the next step in human research. Antenna investigates...
White blood cells (green) attacking a cancer cell.
Image: Zheng Cui
A few years ago scientists found a mouse that couldn't get cancer. 'It was the only survivor of a study in which mice were given injections of cancer cells,' explains Zheng Cui from the Wake Forest School of Medicine in the US. 'It had a natural resistance to cancer.'
White blood cells in the mouse's immune system stopped cancer cells taking hold in its body and forming a tumour. 'The very first time the white blood cells encountered the cancer cells, they killed them,' says Zheng.
Zheng Cui with the cancer-resistant mouse, nicknamed 'Super'.
Image: Zheng Cui
Then Zheng and his team found that injections of white blood cells from the cancer-resistant mouse and its offspring could completely cure other mice of cancer.
In tests, they gave seven mice with prostate cancer a single injection of cells - and all seven were cured. 'There were no side effects and it was very effective,' says Zheng.
One of Super's offspring.
Image: Zheng Cui
Now Zheng has permission from the US government to search for people with the same resistance to cancer as the mouse he found, reports New Scientist.
He's already shown that human white blood cells can kill cancer cells in a test tube, but their effectiveness varies enormously. He hopes his team can find people with cancer resistance who can become white-blood-cell donors, helping cure other people of cancer.
A cancer patient would need the same blood type as a white-blood-cell donor, but couldn't be a blood relative - their immune systems would be too similar, which could cause problems.
Image: iStockphoto.com/Vladislav Mitic
What's so special about these white blood cells?
The white blood cells are a type called 'granulocytes'. They're packed with toxic granules that kill other cells. Scientists used to think they could only fight off infections - but now it's clear they can be potent cancer killers.
There are several different types of white blood cell in your immune system.
Image: Bruce Wetzel/Harry Schaeter/NCI
How do they destroy cancer?
'It's pretty violent,' says Zheng. 'They surround the cancer cells and make them burst.' Granulocytes are so poisonous that they're a danger to themselves - if scientists don't handle them carefully they can explode.
Here you can see a cervical cancer cell (yellow arrow) being killed by human granulocytes.
Image: Zheng Cui
Zheng and his team are hoping to have found some potential granulocyte donors and patients by summer next year, so they can start the next step of their research. 'We think we have a possible treatment for cancer here,' says Zheng.
Zheng Cui and his team, Wake Forest School of Medicine.
Image: Zheng Cui