Spray-on gel slows down the regrowth of tumours after cancer surgery

When tumours are removed surgically, some cancer cells may get left behind

When tumours are removed surgically, some cancer cells may get left behind

BSIP SA/Alamy

A way of destroying cancers with our own immune system is a long-held goal of medicine. Now a new twist on such immunotherapy has given promising results in mice.

The treatment is a gel sprayed on to the wound left when a tumour is cut out. The targeted delivery means nearby immune cells start killing cancer cells, both at the wound and elsewhere in the body – but it doesn’t cause a potentially harmful body-wide immune reaction

Several kinds of immunotherapy have been …