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Biologist Dr Clare Bennett, who is based at the Royal Free Hospital |
Dr Clare points way ahead with needle-free treatment
Leukaemia vaccine painted on skin could mean breakthrough
NEEDLES could become a thing of the past after a Royal Free scientist won charity funding to develop a vaccine against leukaemia, which can be painted on to the skin.
Biologist Dr Clare Bennett, 33, will spend the next five years researching ways to prevent the deadly disease from recurring in people who have had successful chemotherapy or a bone marrow transplant.
She hopes to use the technique to transform the way patients with other conditions are vaccinated – by using a paintbrush to apply the vaccine.
Dr Bennett, who lives in Holloway, said: “There are cells in the epidermis – the top layer of a person’s skin – which are excellent at initiating an immune response.
“We hope that when the vaccine is painted on to the skin, the body will send out a signal telling the immune system to kill the leukaemic cells. This may be more effective than injecting the vaccine into the body.”
Dr Bennett believes the target cells – dendritic cells – are the key to the vaccine’s potential success.
She said: “Dendritic cells help the body process a vaccine more effectively, by targeting leukaemia cells to be destroyed by the immune cells.
“As these are found in vast quantities in the skin, it makes sense to think that a vaccine administered here will work effectively.”
“Hopefully, we would get better results because people wouldn’t be scared of having to have needles.
“If we find we get a much better immune response, it could be translated to other treatments.”
Dr Bennett will finance her research with a £600,000 fellowship grant from blood cancer charity Leukaemia research.
She said: “The idea that we can use our immune system to fight cancer is quite exciting. My particular approach, to paint the vaccine, is unique.
“Standard treatments like chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants are fairly good, but the problem is the cancers tend to come back.”
If successful, the vaccine would be used following such treatments to prevent the cancer recurring.
Dr Bennett, who works at the Royal Free’s Department of Haematology, said: “It’s really early days.
“If we could eventually replace them (transplants and chemo), that would be fantastic. But for now we’re concentrating on how we can find a way to vaccinate through the skin.”
She hopes to be ready for clinical trials in five years’ time.
Biologist Dr Clare Bennett, who is based at the Royal Free Hospital
Hearing test over phone
A FIVE-minute hearing test, available free of charge over the phone, is helping to ensure the early stages of deafness are picked up.
Councillor Martin Davies, Camden council’s executive member for adult social care and health, who took the hearing check a fortnight ago, has urged residents to take the test.
He said: “Most people do not appreciate how important their hearing is until they start to lose it. The test is quick and simple and there’s simply no excuse not to take it.”
The Royal National Institute for Deaf People chief executive John Low said: “This aspect of the ageing process can have a profound impact on our lives, leaving us feeling isolated and frustrated.
“There is no need to suffer in silence when so much support is available – and the earlier the problem is identified, the greater the potential benefits.”
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