PATIENTS with a common type of fast-growing cancer are being given fresh hope in a new clinical trial.

Scientists at the University of Southampton are, for the first time, to trial a new experimental drug, in combination with immunochemotherapy, in certain patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

It is the most common type of fast-growing non-Hodgkin lymphoma. For many people, the standard treatment, called R-CHOP, uses a combination of an immunotherapy called rituximab and four chemotherapy drugs to find and destroy lymphoma cells.

But sometimes the lymphoma does not go away, or comes back after a period of remission.

Researchers at the University of Southampton want to find out whether a new protein inhibitor called acalabrutinib improves patient response to standard treatments.

The trial, which is being funded by Acerta Pharma, will be managed by the Southampton Clinical Trials Unit, and will for the first time combine acalabrutinib with R-CHOP.

The first phase of the trial will help determine a safe and tolerable dose of the drug. Patients will receive multiple low doses of acalabrutinib, while samples of blood and other fluids, collected at various time points, are analysed for information on how the body processes the drug in combination with R-CHOP.

The subsequent phase will evaluate whether this treatment combination is effective at treating DLBCL and preventing its return.

Researchers on the trial are accepting patients aged 16 years and above, with previously untreated CD20 positive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, requiring a full course of chemotherapy.

Professor Peter Johnson, director of the Southampton Cancer Research UK Centre, said: “This trial is exciting because it uses a new targeted cancer drug to switch off key signals in lymphoma cells, and at the same time we will be able to collect information about whether this is a good approach for more patients in the future.”