In the labs at King’s College London, scientists are cooking up new ways to tackle cancer. Men and women in white coats sit at sterile isolation hoods, tinkering with white blood cells, the cells of our immune system that protect us from infection, to exploit their seek and destroy capabilities as a weapon against cancer. Dr John Maher has been leading a team here since 2004, where he has been pushing forward new approaches for turning the patient’s own immune system against cancer.

In 2008, John started on Worldwide Cancer Research funded project to see if they could find a way to make a type of immunotherapy called CAR T-cell therapy, which had previously only been shown to be effective in blood cancer, work for solid tumours.

CAR T-cell therapy is called a ‘living drug’. In practice, a sample of a patient’s blood is taken to a lab where the white blood cells are isolated and extracted. Scientists then insert new genes into the white blood cells using a harmful virus. The new genes give the white blood cells the ability to recognise cancer cells as they would bacteria or virus, allowing them to mount a coordinated and sustained attack against the cancer. The genetically modified white blood cells are then nurtured in the lab to grow and divide until enough have been produced to be injected back into the patient.

In 2013, John’s research led to a discovery that allowed his team to develop a brand new type of CAR T-cell therapy. They immediately started planning their own clinical trial to test the therapy in patients. This clinical trial has already shown real promise and has even helped cure one patient, James, who was handed a terminal diagnosis by his doctors.