6 Saturday April 9 2022 | the times
News
A new treatment that redirects the
body’s immune system to kill cancer
cells may offer hope to patients who
have run out of options.
Researchers have been trialling the
drug, AFM24, and say it shows signs of
effectiveness for a third of patients with
advanced cancers that had stopped re-
sponding to treatment, including bow-
el, lung and pancreatic cancers.
The team from the Institute of Cancer
Research and the Royal Marsden NHS
Foundation Trust hope it will be safer
than current cell-based treatments.
The drug redirects the body’s natural
immune system to kill tumour cells
without having to go through the
complex process of re-engineering a
patient’s own cells, known as CAR-T
New hope for drug that turns
the body into cancer cell killer
cell therapy. Initial results from the on-
going phase I trial in 24 patients will be
presented at the American Association
for Cancer Research conference in New
Orleans on Monday.
Dr Juanita Lopez, the trial’s UK lead
and consultant medical oncologist at
the Royal Marsden and the Institute of
Cancer Research (ICR), said: “Natural
killer cells are an essential part of the
immune system and are able to recog-
nise cancer cells.
“This new immunotherapy, AFM24,
can redirect natural killer cells to
tumours by targeting a protein called
EGFR, which is often found on the
surface of cancer cells.
“This treatment is still highly experi-
mental and our trial is at an early stage,
but we are excited by its potential.
“It does not have to be personalisedfor each patient like CAR-T cell thera-
py, so it could potentially be cheaper
and faster to use, and might work
against a wider range of cancers.”
The trial is funded by the company
that manufactures AFM24, Affimed
NV, and is testing the drug’s safety,
dosage and effectiveness.
Eight of the 24 patients in the trial
responded to the immunotherapy and
their cancers stopped growing. For a
further two patients with bowel cancer
and one with lung cancer, their cancer
shrank or stopped growing for more
than three months after the treatment.
Richard Condie, 64, from Surrey, was
diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2015
and, despite surgery, it spread to his liver.
In January last year the nursing home
estates manager was told he had run out
of options. He is now being treated withAFM24, which has stabilised his cancer
and shrunk some tumours.
He said: “I receive the drug as an infu-
sion once a week and, out of all the treat-
ments I’ve been given over the past
seven years, this one has come with the
fewest side-effects. I’m able to work, live
an active lifestyle.”
Professor Kristian Helin, chief execu-
tive of the ICR, said: “This treatment is
highly innovative because it finds a way
to direct natural killer cells within the
immune system to tumours without re-
quiring complex and expensive re-engi-
neering of a patient’s own cells.
“So far, we’ve only seen initial find-
ings in a small group of patients, but the
results look promising, and we’re opti-
mistic that this could be a new type of
immunotherapy for cancers that are
otherwise hard to treat.”Kat Lay Health Editor
A mother of three with terminal cancer
claims that she was called into hospital
and admonished after complaining on
social media about the quality of the
care she was receiving.
Harriet Wilson, 34, had bowel cancer
diagnosed in May last year but after 12
rounds of chemotherapy at Queen
Elizabeth Hospital in Greenwich doc-
tors switched her to palliative care
when the cancer spread.
She says that since the change she
has had no at-home care and is only
Dying patient ‘reprimanded’ over Instagram criticism
able to talk to her NHS doctor at pre-
arranged times every second Friday. “I
did a video on March 18 on Instagram to
talk about the way I was feeling because
I didn’t have any professionals to talk
to,” she told the Daily Mail. “Afterwards
I was called in to see the oncologist and
the nurse told me I shouldn’t put stuff
on my Instagram.”
In the post, which racked up more
than 70,000 views, she complained that
at times the doctor wasn’t offering her
the whole range of treatment options
for her illness. She said that she had
been given different information by dif-ferent doctors and that she was
alarmed when she was called in to the
hospital. “I had sleepless nights before I
went in because I thought they would
only call me in if it was something seri-
ous they wanted to discuss,” she said. “I
was shocked. I said, “You’ve got awoman here who is dying... If I want to
run around naked on my Instagram I
can, it’s a free country.”
Wilson married her long-term part-
ner, Daniel, the father of her three
children — Darcey, 14, Harry, six, and
Nelly, four — in February. A crowdfund
to pay for private care has raised more
than £40,000. She said that her care
had improved since she went public.
Lewisham and Greenwich Trust said
it would not comment on individual
cases owing to patient confidentiality
but that she would receive a full re-
sponse to her complaint in due course.Laurence Sleator
Horses for courses Some follow fashion, others follow the form as the sun comes out for Ladies Day at Aintree on day two of the Grand National Festival Pullout Sole-searching record
A Devon trawler landed 12 tonnes
of Dover sole and £155,000 from
one trip. The Margaret of
Ladram, captained by Adam
Cowan-Dickie, returned from the
Irish Sea with 277 boxes of fish,
breaking the record in Brixham
fish market, Devon, by £30,000.
Cowan-Dickie, 53, said there was
little competition from abroad as
fuel for shipping is so expensive.Drone ‘out of control’
A police drone that crashed into a
house after going out of control
could have caused serious injury,
an inquiry by the Air Accidents
Investigation Branch found. An
officer failed to notice a warning
message when a battery became
disconnected in strong winds at
Poole. A Dorset police
spokeswoman said the old drone
had been “retired”.M1 stargazers fined
Police closed the M1 north of
Mansfield near Meadowhall in
the early hours yesterday after
two stargazers were seen lying in
the central reservation peering up
at the sky. The pair were hoping
to see the Milky Way away from
street lights. South Yorkshire
police tweeted: “Both removed,
poor attitudes challenged and
issued with tickets.”Cockney accent case
A navy engineer punched a
colleague after teasing him about
having a cockney accent despite
both of them coming from
Teesside. Regan Hughes attacked
Callum Jackson, 36, on board
HMS Queen Elizabeth last
October, Bulford military court,
Wiltshire, was told. Hughes
denies assault occasioning actual
bodily harm. The trial continues.Pointless is Osmanless
Richard Osman is leaving the hit
BBC daytime quiz show Pointless,
which he created in 2009 and
co-hosted for more than 1,
episodes, to focus on his writing.
The 51-year-old, the bestselling
author of The Thursday Murder
Club series of novels, will
continue to present Pointless
Celebrities and House of Games.
He said working on the show
with Alexander Armstrong had
been “a joy from start to finish”.
He will be replaced by a roster of
guest presenters.AAACDE E E
EFGH I I JK
LMNOOPQR
STUVWXYZSolve all five clues using each
letter underneath once only1 Fleshy part of the lower cheek (4)2 Disconcerted, unnerved (5)3 Tool for splitting large rocks (7)4 Defeat, overcome (8)5 Field of mathematics (8)Quintagram®No 1285
Solutions See page 83
Cryptic clues every day onlinePETER POWELL/EPAHarriet Wilson
complained about
the care she was
receiving