2E4X7NC White blood cells or T lymphocytes or natural killer T attack a cancer or tumor or infected cell 3D rendering illustration. Oncology, immune system, b Credit: Alamy

A CANCER jab available on the NHS can melt away tumours when patients have run out of options, a trial found.

Triple-action injection amivantamab works by blocking a growth protein and an enzyme that makes tumours immune-resistant, as well as boosting white blood cells to help them kill the cancer.

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A study of 102 people with incurable head and neck cancers found it shrank the disease in 42 per cent of patients.

In 15 people the tumours disappeared completely where all other drugs had failed.

Amivantamab is already available on the NHS for lung cancer patients and could now be rolled out to more patients.

Head and neck cancers include tumours on the tongue and in the throat and are the ninth most common type in Britain, with around 13,000 cases per year.

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Trial chief Professor Kevin Harrington, from the Institute of Cancer Research in London, said: “These are unprecedentedly strong responses in patients whose disease has become resistant to both chemotherapy and immunotherapy. 

“This is a group of patients for whom treatment options are extremely limited, so seeing this level of benefit is very striking.”

Immunotherapy is one of the most promising forms of cancer treatment for decades.

Scientists are now developing medicines that both weaken a tumour’s defences while also boosting the immune system to kill cells naturally without super-toxic chemotherapy.

Results presented at the conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) showed patients in the trial survived an average of 12 months.

They would have been expected to die within six months with no treatment options.

Trial patient Carl Walsh, 56, from Birmingham, received the drug for cancer on his tongue which had not responded to chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

He said: “I now feel able to live a normal life. 

“I’m now on my seventeenth cycle of treatment and the swelling has reduced significantly, and my pain levels have improved considerably.”

WHAT IS IMMUNOTHERAPY?

Immunotherapy is a modern cancer treatment that is one of the biggest breakthroughs in tackling the disease in decades.
According to the Cancer Research: “Immunotherapy ‘wakes up’ a patient’s own immune system so it can fight cancer.”
Immunotherapy treatment works in two ways:

Stimulating a patient’s immune system to work harder to attack cancer cells
Injecting a patient with extra immune system components such as antibodies or white blood cells

The treatment is fairly new and scientists are researching ways to harness the power of the immune system.
Studies are now combining the immune-boosting technique with other ways to lower cancer cells’ defences and make them more vulnerable to attack.