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Tumours could be almost completely eradicated by refining an existing cancer treatment, a study on mice suggests.
The new technique yielded remarkable effects after just one dose in rodents, with pictures showing their masses had shrunk dramatically.
Researchers at Northwestern University, in Illinois, used a form of immunotherapy, a cancer treatment already available on the NHS.
In one type of the treatment, specific tumour-fighting immune cells are extracted from the mass and multiplied in a lab — before being re-administered to patients.
But scientists say the current method only works in few patients because some of the cells are 'exhausted' by the time they are called into action.
The latest study has identified a way to enhance it, to ensure it only multiplies more potent cancer-targeting cells.
The above shows tumours on mice that did not receive treatment (left), received current treatments (centre) and received the new treatment (right)
The method has so far only been tested on mice, and there is yet to be any evidence that it will work for humans.
But if proven to work in further trials, it could be rolled out to patients with all kinds of tumours, including those suffering from skin and breast cancers.
