Pricy process is unique to each tumour

MANY experts believe immunotherapy is the great hope for treating cancers.

It works by reprogramming immune cells or antibodies to recognise and kill cancer cells which might grow into tumours.

The cells removed are T cells which are programmed with a protein called the Chimeric Antigen Receptor.

This enables the T cell to recognise another protein specific to the patient’s tumour.

Those tumour cells are then marked for destruction.

Human trials resulted in complete remission in 90% of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia cases and 50% of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia cases.

The process is unique to each tumour, making it very expensive, but health authorities are hoping to find ways to make it cheaper and more widely available.