When our bodies encounter foreign organisms such as viruses or bacteria they are detected by antibodies in our immune system and destroyed.

For nearly 30 years scientists have attempted to generate antibodies in the laboratory that could specifically target cancer cells and destroy them. Today, these antibody therapies are becoming more and more commonly used and more and more effective with Herceptin, for the treatment of  Breast Cancer ,and Rituximab, used for the treatment of lymphoma, being two of the most successful.

Professor Martin Glennie, Director of the Tenovus Research Laboratory in Southampton General Hospital, is internationally renowned in the field of cancer immunotherapy and has been involved in delivering a number of these antibodies into the clinic. His group has invested considerable effort into researching the biology of a target on cancer cells called CD20 and its interaction with antibodies. Their current Tenovus programme grant is funding these detailed studies with the aim of extending and improving the use of antibody therapy across a number of cancers through an increased understanding of the biology and mechanisms that underlie current effective treatments. 

The Tenovus grant is also funding a new project where the group will engineer cancer cell specific antibodies that recruit the patient’s own immune system to kill the cancer. It will do this through recruiting immune system components called T-cells which are normally primed to fight viruses such as influenza and would not normally recognise a cancerous cell.

 The mobilisation of the body’s T cells against malignant cancer cells offers considerable hope for the prevention and treatment of cancer. However the burgeoning field of cancer of cancer immunotherapy is still in its infancy and much remains to be learnt about fundamental aspects of how T cells are activated, regulated and targeted at cancer cells.