Patient Becomes First In The UK To Receive Cutting-Edge Cancer Vaccine

Graham Booth, a patient in the UK who has undergone cancer treatment four times, is now “looking for a brighter future” as the country’s first patient to receive a newly-developed vaccine.

He said that constant chemotherapy and radiotherapy, from when he was first diagnosed in 2011, has “devastated” his life, with the disease returning in 2016, 2019, and twice more last year.

The cutting-edge vaccine was developed by researchers at the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Liverpool, which the team hopes could help reduce the number of casualties from head and neck cancers.

According to ITV News, HPV-negative squamous cell carcinomas found in the head and neck are challenging to treat, with the disease having a high recurrence rate. 

The new bespoke shot uses a patient’s own immune system to fight against the disease, thereby reducing the chances of it returning.

Each vaccine is specially personalized to the individual, replicating the faulty cell that causes the cancer to spread.

By doing so, the injection then “trains” the patient’s immune system to better recognize and kill off cancer cells created by the body. 

When asked how he felt about being the first person to receive the treatment, Booth said that he wasn’t nervous, and felt it “opened new doorways” to give him hope. 

“Last year, I had the feeling of the cancer progressing and there were not a lot of options left. This clinical trial has opened new doorways and gives me a bit of hope that my cancer won’t come back,” he remarked. 

 Professor Christian Ottensmeier, the Chief Investigator for the trial, was pleased with how far the pioneering treatment had progressed, saying: “It is a really exciting day in this important and potentially game-changing research.” 

“To have reached the stage of a patient receiving this treatment that only a few years ago was thought of as science fiction, is truly amazing,” he added. 

[via ITV News and The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, cover image via The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre]