Vaccine helps victims of cancer that killed Jowell

SCIENTISTS have made a breakthrough with a vaccine that could prolong the life of people suffering from the cancer that killed Dame Tessa Jowell.

Trials tested a treatment for people with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, which works by using the immune cells of patients to target their tumour.

Early findings from an 11-year trial involving more than 300 sufferers worldwide show those given the vaccine “are living longer than expected”, according to a paper published in the Journal of Translational Medicine.

The Brain Tumour Charity said the preliminary results were “remarkably promising”. Dame Tessa, a former Labour cabinet minister, died earlier this month at the age of 70. She was diagnosed with a glioblastoma multiforme brain tumour last year. The standard treatment for glioblastoma is surgery followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Patients who receive this care live for between 15 and 17 months on average.

Of the 331 patients with glioblastoma who took part in the trial, 232 were injected regularly with DCVAX, an immunotherapy vaccine, in addition to standard care, while the remaining group were given a placebo. Every patient whose tumour recurred during the trial was automatically offered the vaccine, meaning around 86 per cent received the treatment at some point.

The study found patients survived for more than 23 months after surgery. Almost a third of participants are classed as “extended survivors” and lived for an average of 40.5 months after surgery, the authors said. The longest survivors have lived for more than seven years.