A groundbreaking NHS immunotherapy study targeting the most lethal type of brain tumour has begun enrolling participants following an extraordinary case where a patient's cancer completely disappeared.
The research focuses on glioblastoma and will involve 16 participants receiving the drug ipilimumab before conventional therapies, when patients' immune responses remain strongest.
The initiative emerged after Ben Trotman, who participated in an earlier study, became the first person globally to show no evidence of glioblastoma for more than two years following treatment.
This exceptional outcome has sparked renewed optimism for a condition that usually claims lives within 12 to 18 months of diagnosis.
PA
|Ben Trotman participated in an earlier study
University College London Hospital's 18-month programme at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery represents a revival of earlier research that had stalled due to recruitment challenges.
Dr Paul Mulholland, the consultant medical oncologist spearheading the research, emphasised the trial's innovative timing: "The crucial element of this trial is that patients will have their immune system boosted by the drug before they have any other treatment, when they are fit and well enough to tolerate the immunotherapy."
The Win-Glio trial will administer ipilimumab to newly diagnosed patients, aiming to harness their immune systems at maximum capacity before beginning radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Trotman received his diagnosis in October 2022 at 40 years old, yet nearly three years later, his medical imaging shows no trace of cancer.
"It is very unusual to have a clear scan with glioblastoma, especially when he didn't have the follow-up surgery that had been planned to remove all of the tumour that was initially visible on scans," Dr Mulholland explained.
The 43-year-old married Emily two months following his immunotherapy and welcomed daughter Mabel in April.
"We obviously don't know what the future holds, but having had the immunotherapy treatment and getting these encouraging scan results has given Emily and me a bit of hope," Trotman said.
The research has been made possible through a £1million fundraising effort spearheaded by Dame Siobhain McDonagh MP, honouring her sister Baroness Margaret McDonagh, who died from glioblastoma in 2023.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
PA
|Dr Paul Mulholland and Dame Siobhain McDonagh MP
"My beloved sister Margaret was appalled to discover that there had been no advances in brain cancer treatment for decades when she was diagnosed with glioblastoma," Dame Siobhain said.
She described the initiative as "Margaret's final campaign and one that I have continued in her memory".
Dr Mulholland revealed that Baroness McDonagh had asked him directly: "What can I do to support you to cure this disease?"
He stated his ultimate goal clearly: "My aim is to find a cure for glioblastoma."