Cancer patient recovers after injection of immune cells

By Roger Highfield, Science Editor

A cancer patient has made a full recovery after being injected with billions of his own immune cells in the first case of its kind, doctors have disclosed.

The 52-year-old, who was suffering from advanced skin cancer, was free from tumours within eight weeks of undergoing the procedure.

	Telegraph view: Cancer breakthrough

After two years he is still free from the disease which had spread to his lymph nodes and one of his lungs.

Doctors took cells from the man's own defence system that were found to attack the cancer cells best, cloned them and injected back into his body, in a process known as "immunotherapy".

Experts said that the case could mark a landmark in the treatment of cancer.

It raises hopes of a possible new way of fighting the disease, which claims 150,000 lives in Britain every year.

Ed Yong, health information manager at Cancer Research UK, said: "It's very exciting to see a cancer patient being successfully treated using immune cells cloned from his own body. While it's always good news when anyone with cancer gets the all clear, this treatment will need to be tested in large clinical trials to work out how widely it could be used."

However, the treatment could prove extremely expensive and scientists say that more research is needed to prove its effectiveness.

Genetically altered white blood cells have been used before to treat cancer patients but this is the first study to show that simply growing vast numbers of the few immune cells in the body to attack a cancer can be safe and effective.

Normally there are too few of the cells in a patient's body to effectively fight cancer.

Dr Cassian Yee, who led the team at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle, said: "For this patient we were successful, but we would need to confirm the effectiveness of therapy in a larger study."

The work raises hopes that this approach could not only offer a more effective treatment for skin cancer, or melanoma, which kills around 2,000 people in Britain alone, but be applied to other cancers too.

The patient was one of nine with metastatic melanoma, that is skin cancer that has spread, who were being treated in a recently completed clinical trial to test bigger and bigger doses of their own white blood cells.

Larger, more elaborate, trials are now under way.

Almost 9,000 new cases of melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, are diagnosed every year in Britain, and nearly 2,000 patients die from the disease.

Prof Peter Johnson, Cancer Research UK's chief clinician, said: "This is another interesting demonstration of the huge power of the immune system to fight some types of cancer.

"Although the technique is complex and difficult to use for all but a few patients, the principle that someone's own immune cells can be expanded and made to work in this way is very encouraging for the work that Cancer Research UK and others are carrying out."

Immunotherapy, in which a patients own immune cells are used to treat cancer, is a growing area of research that aims to develop less-toxic treatments than standard chemotherapy and radiation.

Because cancer occurs when the body's own cells grow out of control, the immune system only responds weakly.

The ability of the body's own defences to tackle cancer in this case is all the more remarkable because most deadly feature of the disease is its ability to colonise other parts of the body, when it becomes much more difficult to treat.

A dramatic example of immunotherapy was reported two years ago by one pioneer of the field, Dr Steven Rosenberg of the US National Cancer Institute, who eradicated cancer from two dying men using genetically modified versions of their own cells.

Both Mark Origer and "Thomas M" were suffering from advanced melanoma but the hope is that such methods could be customised to attack other common cancers, notably breast, colon and lung.

Dr Rosenberg told The Daily Telegraph the new work is an "interesting study that helps to confirm the effectiveness of cell transfer immunotherapy for treating cancer patients. We have now treated 93 patients with metastatic melanoma using their own anti-tumour cells with response rates up to 72 per cent. Mark Origer remains disease free now over three years after treatment."

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I've had the G-shot...and YES,YES,YES, my sex life has never been better

Satisfied: Caroline Cushworth says her sex life is now unbelievable

Three months ago, Caroline Cushworth sat her partner Christopher down and asked him a simple question.

If, she said, I could be guaranteed an orgasm every time we had sex, what would be your reaction?

Not that surprisingly, her partner Christopher, 27, a plasterer, replied that he'd be delighted.

'So I told him I wanted to have a brand-new treatment which would enable me to do just that - and also make my orgasms much more intense than normal,' says Caroline.

'His jaw literally hit the floor and he said, "Sounds good to me."

'And so a fortnight ago, Caroline became the first British woman to have the 'G-shot', also known as the 'orgasm jab' - an £800 non-surgical treatment that enhances a woman's sexual experience by boosting the G-spot, the ultra-sensitive area of tissue that can hold the key to happy love-making.

Rather like lip-plumping jabs, the treatment involves injecting collagen straight into the G-spot.

This not only enhances its sensitivity, but increases the width of the area to the size of a 10 pence piece.

It also raises the G-spot a quarter of an inch in height, making it much easier to find. And, as Caroline can testify, the results are tremendous. 'I have quite literally never experienced anything quite like it,' she says. 'I had constant multiple orgasms which went on for hours.

'That first time, the whole thing was so intense I was actually a bit scared. I was so overcome, but thankfully the intensity is something I've got used to. I still have multiple orgasms every time I have sex, but they no longer leave me flat on my back.'

Although Caroline, a 41-year-old business developer from Leeds who has no children, says she's always enjoyed a healthy sex life, it wasn't until a few years ago that she first discovered her G-spot.

The area is named after Dr Ernest Grafenberg, who first described it in a 1950 article in the International Journal of Sexology, and while many women say it's a highly sensitive, erotic area that provides hours of pleasure, others seem unable to locate it at all.

Caroline, until recently, fell into the latter of the two camps, and even questioned its existence.

She says: 'I personally thought anyone who said they climaxed through intercourse alone was lying. And I didn't really believe in the G-spot.

'But a few years ago, my partner at the time said he wanted to find it. We actually set aside an entire afternoon and spent hours searching for my G-spot.'

'Finding the damned thing in the first place was no easy feat and wasn't exactly the most erotic of experiences, but we got there in the end. I still think that women who claim they can find their G-spot during a one-night stand are lying. Once we'd found my G-spot, my sex life did improve, but I still didn't orgasm every time we had sex.

Hitting the spot: Meg Ryan in the famous When Harry Met Sally orgasm scene

'To be honest, even when you know where it is, the G-spot can still be incredibly elusive. I found it very frustrating.'

Caroline heard about the arrival of the G-shot in the UK from America a year ago, where the procedure has been available for some years.

She discovered that Professor P. K.W. Dartey, of the UK Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation Centre in London's Harley Street, was the UK's only cosmetic gynaecologist approved to administer the shot.

'I was reading these flyers which detailed the G-shot,' says Caroline.

'I immediately thought I had to get it done. 'I attended a consultation, where Professor Dartey explained that injecting collagen into my normal, pea-sized G-spot would enlarge it for up to four months. The results would mean longer, more intense orgasms.

'He showed me a diagram of exactly where the G-spot is - between 5.8 to 6.2cm from the pubic bone. It all sounded pretty straightforward.

'The procedure itself was a bit nerve-racking, though. I was petrified beforehand.

'At one point, Professor Dartey was trying to locate my G-spot with one hand while holding an 8cm needle filled with collagen in the other.

'I lay on my back thinking: "Oh God, what am I doing here?" It didn't hurt and Professor Dartey was very professional about it, but I can't say I wasn't embarrassed.

'Five minutes later though, I was up and dressed, and to my surprise feeling vaguely aroused, but I think that was more because of the anticipation of the sex that I'd have later.'

Caroline was told she had to wait four hours before having sex, and so spent the afternoon shopping.

'When we did have sex I'm happy to report it was just unbelievable - and it's been the same every time since.'

Caroline is so happy with the results that she's already booked in to have a top-up treatment in four months' time and says she'll carry on having the jab indefinitely.

'I'll treat it in the same way as I do getting my hair cut or my highlights done,' she says. 'Christopher and I always had a healthy sex life, but now it's better than ever.'

The G-shot costs £800. For more information visit www.profdartey.com or call 020 8232 5452.

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When should you stop going to therapy?

There's no lab test or imaging study like a CT scan or an MRI to measure how much progress you've made in therapy. But there is a strong movement away from endless navel-gazing -- the Woody Allen stereotype of therapy going on for years, even decades, without resolution.

Set goals with your therapist and have regular check-ins, one expert says.

"It's unrealistic to expect a cure for depression symptoms after four to six weeks of therapy," says William C. Sanderson, PhD, a professor of psychology at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. "But if there's no improvement during that time, we need to evaluate whether you're in the right treatment for you."

Check in regularly

Jayne Bloch, a psychoanalyst in New York City, says it's crucial to set goals with your therapist and have regular check-ins. But, she adds, don't be surprised if the "end date" approaches and old symptoms start coming back.

"I had a patient in long-term analysis, she just wanted to go, but she felt like she had to be angry in order to leave," Bloch says. "She felt the only way to leave is to just set the date and leave being angry. It's not that different than the process of leaving home-often kids leave their parents feeling they have to rebel." Health.com: How therapy can change your brain

Good and bad reasons to end

Charles, 59, a Midwesterner, describes how he finally decided to end therapy. "I got paired up with a psychiatrist who really cared and was competent to make things better. But after a while, the clockwork way he approached each visit made me wonder what I was gaining or learning," he says. "It's easy to get through sessions by telling your therapists what they want to hear." Health.com: How you may feel during therapy

If you begin to feel that way, says Hofstra's Sanderson, it may be time to terminate. Gary Seeman, PhD, a psychologist in San Francisco, adds: "Ethically, a patient can't be in therapy with two people at once."

Logistical issues, such as money and access, or an inexperienced or irresponsible therapist can terminate therapy prematurely. Keris Myrick, 46, of Pasadena, California, found a therapist through her HMO. After just one session, Myrick says, "she told me everything was fine so she didn't need to see me anymore. But I was adamant that no, things weren't going well. I was having feelings of sadness and was anxious, withdrawing, keeping all the blinds closed, but I guess she thought I was all right."

Many patients with chronic depression hope to keep their relationship with their therapist for as long as possible. Lisa, 42, from Huntington, New York., likens talk therapy to "going to the gym." Health.com: Help for when therapy gets expensive

"Your mental health is with you for the rest of your life and it will be as good to you as you are to it," Lisa says. "The reason people are so desperate for end dates is because they see therapy as detention or punishment. But if you're in the right kind of therapy, it's the greatest reward you can do for yourself."

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