BOWDON-based the Friends of Rosie Children’s Cancer Research Fund has awarded a £65,000 grant to fund a ground breaking project.

It is backing research into the potential of immunotherapy to treat childhood brain tumours, with the work to be undertaken in the laboratories of the new Manchester Cancer Research Centre facilities on the Christie campus in Withington.

After receiving high quality applications from a number of researchers, the Trustees of the charity, selected the proposal submitted by Professor Robert Hawkins, and fellow research collaborators.

The award of £65,000 for a one year start-up research study will look into the feasibility of using cells created by the body’s immune system, called ‘Tumour Infiltrating Lymphocytes’ (TILs), to shrink or destroy brain tumours in children.

TILs therapy is already being investigated in other cancer types but this new research will focus particularly on TILs found in types of childhood brain tumours that have a poor prognosis, such as those that don’t respond well to conventional treatment.

Professor Hawkins, said: “Although brain tumours are the most common ‘solid’ cancers in children, accounting for more than 20 per cent of all childhood cancers, they are difficult to treat successfully and remain a leading cause of cancer-related death in children.

"Thanks to the funding from Friends of Rosie, we’ll be able to determine whether it is possible to apply this approach to childhood brain tumours that have the highest need for additional treatment options. If we are successful, this could have a dramatic effect on the treatment of childhood brain cancers.”

The principle of immunotherapy is to harness the power of the immune system to kill the cancer.

Friends of Rosie Trustee, Lisa Larkin, says, “Professor Hawkins’ project is exactly the sort of start-up research funding that our charity was created to support.

"Our independent scientific board advised us of the great potential of this project to positively impact the treatment of childhood cancer. If successful, this project could lead to a major clinical trial, which could see children who currently have few treatment options, having a real chance at long term survival.”