Skin cancer researchers carry out ‘world-first’ trials of personalised radiation treatment

Source: Abc.net.au, January 2016

World-first melanoma research aimed at developing personalised radiation treatments for skin cancer patients is underway at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital.

Lead researcher and radiation oncologist Professor Bryan Burmeister said each melanoma patient reacted differently to treatment.

“It’s called personalised medicine," he said.

“We don’t classify patients according to what tumours they have, we now classify their treatments according to their genetic make-up of their tumour."

The process involves removing cancerous cells from the patient and then identifying in the laboratory whether there are immune cells around particular melanoma cells.

Cells are then cultured in a Petri dish and exposed to smaller doses of radiation to see how they respond