South Korea has opened a new avenue for terminal colorectal cancer patients who have not found success with conventional treatments, as the Ministry of Health and Welfare approved a clinical research plan utilizing patients’ own immune cells.
The approval was announced on December 23 following the 11th Deliberation Committee on Advanced Regenerative Medicine and Advanced Biopharmaceuticals held on December 22, where the committee reviewed three medical institution applications and cleared one cell therapy study for terminal colorectal cancer.
Study Uses Immune Cells to Attack Recurrent Cancer
The approved study evaluates the safety and therapeutic potential of administering a patient’s personal immune cells to individuals whose cancer has spread to other organs or recurred after treatment. The research utilizes T lymphocytes and natural killer (NK) cells, which attack cancer cells within the human immune system. Patients will receive these two types of cells sequentially in a study classified as a medium-risk advanced regenerative medicine clinical research.
Researchers plan to extract immune cells from the blood of patients who underwent standard treatments such as surgery or targeted anticancer drugs without effect. The T lymphocytes and NK cells will then be separated, cultivated for a specific period, and reinjected into the patient’s body.
Evaluation and Treatment Expectations
Following the cell administration, researchers will monitor safety indicators like adverse reactions while analyzing whether actual cancer-suppressing effects occur. Key evaluation items include the proportion of patients whose tumor size decreases or disease progression stops, alongside the duration the cancer remains unaggravated.
Metastatic and recurrent terminal colorectal cancer targets of the study represent stage 4 conditions where cancer cells spread to the liver, lungs, or peritoneum, leaving limited treatment options when existing therapies fail. The Ministry of Health and Welfare expects that if treatment efficacy and safety are proven through this research, it could present a novel treatment possibility using individual immune cells for terminal colorectal cancer patients who are difficult to treat with conventional chemotherapy.
