A cancer treatment developed in Queensland is showing promising results, but help is needed.
There is no better proof of the importance of home-grown medical research than Brisbane mother of two Jane Campbell.
Jane was a busy physiotherapist when she was struck down in 2022 by a rare form of lymphoma affecting her brain.
“It was all pretty upsetting and a lot to wrap your head around,” Jane said.
Over the next year, she endured a series of intense treatments, but the cancer kept coming back.
Jane Campbell with daughters Leah and Elise and husband Lachlan.
Jane had run out of treatment options and her beautiful family was running out of hope. But then, just as all seemed lost, came good news.
Jane was eligible for an immunotherapy trial being run by the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) and QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute. The treatment involved Jane’s own immune cells (T cells) being supercharged with gene engineering. The new cells, called CAR T cells, were then returned to Jane’s bloodstream to fight the cancer.
“To be down to no options and then to suddenly be given one more chance, probably the best chance in the world, right here in your home town and at no cost to me is almost beyond words,” Jane said.
Several months on, Jane is in remission, feeling well and planning to go back to work.
Jane knows her treatment can’t be called a cure but she and her family now have hope where before there was none.
“We just get on with life… which is absolutely wonderful,” she said.
The research team
Dr Siok Tey has been engineering immune cells for nearly 20 years.
When she first heard of CAR T cells, it sounded like science fiction. Now her lab at QIMR Berghofer is at the forefront of a global push to improve the treatment and engineer it for other cancers.
As both a haematologist specialising in blood cancer at the RBWH and a leading immunology researcher at QIMR Berghofer, Dr Tey has a unique perspective on the clinical need and the scientific potential of the treatment.
Dr Tey’s CAR T cell trial for lymphoma has shown great promise.
“What we have right now are CAR T cells that have a 40–50% success rate for certain types of blood cancer, which is fantastic for these patients who otherwise have 0%,” she said.
Dr Tey is passionate about the potential for the technology to be used against other cancers. Her team’s next target is the blood cancer myeloma with plans for a trial in collaboration with the RBWH as soon as resources permit.
Dr Siok Tey.
The treatment involved Jane's own immune cells (T cells) being supercharged with gene engineering. The new cells, called CAR T cells, were then returned to Jane's bloodstream to fight the cancer.
The technology also has potential against solid tumours including the childhood cancer, neuroblastoma.
Dr Tey’s team is delivering remarkable achievements with very limited resources but without more funding, this exciting local research may stall.
Appeal for donations
Dr Tey’s CAR T cell research is the subject of QIMR Berghofer’s annual tax appeal. Public donations are critical to help keep the research moving and Dr Tey wants Queenslanders to know their contributions will make a real difference.
“By supporting this research, you are improving access to patients right here,” she said.
“We can’t rely on this technology coming from the United States because that makes it too expensive.
“By investing in and supporting our research, you’re helping to make us a leader in this expanding field and directly helping people in this town.”
The anxious wait
Andy Scott has been living with the blood cancer, myeloma since 2017. The 43-year-old father of three has been through intensive chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant and is on maintenance chemo which is keeping the cancer at bay for now.
When it returns, there will be other treatments but a CAR T cell trial holds the hope of remission.
Andy said living with cancer caused constant anxiety.
“It’s like having a gun held to your head and knowing that one day it will go off,” Andy said. “You just don’t know when.”
But Andy and his partner Haley light up at the prospect of CAR T cell therapy.
His haematologist, Dr Andrea Henden, is also a researcher on Dr Tey’s team at QIMR Berghofer and while Andy knows CAR T cells won’t guarantee him a miracle, the research is a beacon of hope for his young family.
The science of CAR T cells
CAR T cell therapy relies on first determining the antigen or target on the cancer cells that immune cells can lock onto. The target must be unique to the cancer cells so healthy cells are not attacked by the immune system.
Once the target is established, the CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) is engineered with two major components.
Firstly, it needs a binder which is designed to lock onto the target on the cancer cell. Secondly, it needs a signaling system that instructs the T cells how to kill the cancer cells.
Once the CAR gene is engineered and cloned, it’s then placed in a virus which carries the gene into the T cells.
The new CAR T cells are then multiplied in the lab and delivered to the patient intravenously.
How you can help
To donate to QIMR Berghofer’s frontier research, please go to qimrberghofer.edu.au/outsmart-cancer-appeal or call 1800 993 000.
Top image: Dr Siok Tey and QIMR clinician and researcher Dr Stephen Boyle.