By Sarah Knapton

A revolutionary new cancer treatment that remembers the disease and acts like a watchman to prevent it ever returning is being developed by scientists. Researchers are engineering immune cells so that they not only boost the body's own natural defences to fight tumours, but stand guard for a lifetime - acting effectively like a vaccine. Scientists say it is like having a "living drug", which is constantly vigilant to the return of cancer and quickly removes it from the body.

A new study, presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Washington, has proven for the first time that engineered "memory T-cells" can persist in the body for at least 14 years. Professor Chiara Bonini, a haematologist at San Raffaele Scientific Institute and Vita e Salute San Raffaele University in Milan, said: "T-cells are a living drug, and in particular they have the potential to persist in our body for our whole lives.

Read more

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/