Cancer research: New treatment for aggressive tumours [Video]

A group of Canadian and American scientists has made a breakthrough in the search for life-saving brain cancer treatments.

The group, co-led by researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont. and the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, has developed a method for treating the most aggressive form of brain cancer: glioblastoma. The treatment uses the body’s own immune cells, called T cells, to target and destroy cancer cells in the brain.

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It’s only been tested in mice so far, but Sheila Singh, co-senior author and director of McMaster’s Centre for Discovery in Cancer Research, is hopeful human trials could begin before 2030.

“In the next five years, I hope to see some movement of the next steps to move towards clinical trials,” she told CTVNews.ca in an interview over Zoom on Thursday.

Singh and her co-authors published their research in the scientific journal Nature Medicine on Friday.