London, Jan 4 (ANI): A vaccine for leukaemia is set to undergo human trials for the first time.

Researchers from University College London have developed a treatment that can be used to stop the disease returning after chemotherapy or bone marrow transplant.

The vaccine encourages the immune system to track down cancer cells and destroy them.

It also triggers the immune system to recognise leukaemia cells if they return which prevents a relapse of the disease.

The vaccine has been developed by removing cells from the patient’s blood and manipulating them in the laboratory.

Prof Farzin Farzaneh, Professor of Molecular Medicine at King’s College London, said if the trials are successful then it could “rolled out” to treat other leukaemias and cancers.

“It is the same concept as normal vaccines. The immune system is made to see something as foreign and can then destroy it itself. This has the chance to be curative,” the Telegraph quoted Farzaneh as saying.

In the initial stages patients will be enrolled in the trial if they have had chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant.

If early trials are successful the vaccine may be tested in patients who cannot have a bone marrow transplant because they are unsuitable or a match cannot be found. (ANI)