Immersion / Clinical trial

Treating cancer with your own cells

HOPES of A CURE

Immunotherapy, which consists of mobilising the cells of your body to fight against certain types of cancer, has considerably raised hopes. Currently, at the experimental stage, new individualised treatments allow increasingly more precise targeting of tumours.

Through this Immersion series, we propose to take you behind the scenes of a promising clinical trial performed at CHUV, which attacks metastatic melanoma by culturing and re-injecting T lymphocytes taken directly from the tumour. Month by month, you can follow the progress of the first patients enrolled in the trial and discover how these new forms of cellular immunotherapy are on the verge of revolutionising the treatment of cancer.

A year in the making, 30 DAYS FOR SUCCESS

This is a first in terms of communication and transparency: patients and professionals engaged in a clinical trial of rare complexity have accepted the presence of a team of journalists from In Vivo at each key stage. Through this chronicle, you can follow them, step by step.

1 Consent

The protocol is explained in detail to the patients, who must give their formal agreement. Hopes, risks, side effects: no question is taboo.

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2 Collecting the sample

To know whether cell therapy has a chance of success, a part of the melanoma is surgically removed and sent to the laboratory for analysis.

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3 Examinations

The patients undergo a series of tests that will confirm whether they fully meet the conditions for taking part in the trial.

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4 Culture

In the laboratory, the lymphocytes present in the tumour, known as T lymphocytes, are isolated. They have 14 days to multiply in their billions.

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5 Hospitalisation

The patients receive chemotherapy for a week. Why? To knock out their immune defences and prepare the ground for the arrival of the T lymphocytes.

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6 D-Day

A crucial and very delicate stage where, under strict monitoring, the patients are re-injected with their own cells, which must then do battle with the metastatic melanoma.

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7 Stimulation

Once re-injected into the patient's body, the T lymphocytes continue to be “boosted” by means of infusions.

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8 Recovery

The body and spirit recover, always under close monitoring. When the patients are fit enough, they can return home.

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9 Assessment

Have the T lymphocytes done their work? Thirty days after the re-injection, the patients have a scan that delivers the first results of this offensive.

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