Researchers at the University of Calgary, along with doctors at the Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre, are running a clinical trial to research the effectiveness of an experimental chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy to treat solid cancerous tumours.

Doctors say the therapy, called GCAR1, has shown positive results when used to treat patients with alveolar soft-cell sarcoma, a type of cancer that originates in bone or muscle, whose cancer has metastasized.

The immunotherapy offers an alternative treatment when chemotherapy, radiation and surgery are no longer effective.

Researchers are using genetic engineering and synthetic biology to rewire a patient’s immune system to better recognize the cancerous cells. Each treatment is a personalized and precision treatment that redirects T-cells to detect and fight the cancer.

Two patients have been treated so far in the clinical trial. One’s life was extended by 18 months before she passed from her disease. The other has shown significant improvement, and a decrease in tumour size after two rounds of treatment.

The next phase of the trial is recruiting patients at four other medical centres across the country.

It’s a 10-15 year process for the treatment to be developed, approved and used as part of a routine treatment. Researchers and doctors hope to build on the early success of the trial, and be able to expand this type of immunotherapy to treat other types of cancer.