Queensland-first skin cancer therapy

A ground-breaking trial at Greenslopes Private Hospital has successfully used parts of a patient's tumour to fight their skin cancer.

The Brisbane facility's clinical trials unit, run in partnership with Gallipoli Medical Research Foundation, is the first in Queensland to administer the innovative cellular therapy to a melanoma patient.

Led by Dr Suzanne Elliott, Professor Victoria Atkinson and Michelle Beutel, the team performed the treatment using Tumour Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TIL) – immune cells extracted from the patient's own tumour and reintroduced to fight the cancer.

With over 4,000 people diagnosed every year, Queensland has the highest rate of skin cancer in Australia, which has the highest rate in the world.

"It is important that this technology be accessible in Australia and Queensland, and it is great to offer this exciting new technology to eligible patients in Queensland,"Principal Investigator Prof Atkinson said.

The patient's tumour was removed and sent to a manufacturing facility in the United States to be turned into an investigational treatment made of the TIL.

The treatment was cryopreserved and transported back in liquid nitrogen, then carefully thawed and infused back into the patient, who had additional treatments including IL2 immunotherapy to further expand the TILs and enhance the therapeutic effect.

Queensland has Australia's highest rate of skin cancer

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