A BRAND new centre dedicated to curing cancer has come a step closer after a major donation.

An anonymous gift of £2 million has taken the total to £23.8 million, just £1.2 million short of the final target needed to launch The Centre for Cancer Immunology.

Started by the University of Southampton, the state-of-the-art centre will bring together world leading cancer scientists under one roof.

It will offer the chance for Hampshire cancer patients to undergo trials using revolutionary new medicines in the battle to save lives.

After the most recent donation, the facility is expected to be completed in early 2018.

Professor Tim Elliott, director of the centre, said: “We are extremely grateful for this wonderful and very generous gift, which sees us enter the final phase of our fundraising campaign.

“It’s very exciting to see the centre almost complete. After a lot of hard work by a lot of people, we are within touching distance of our new centre being a reality.”

The £25 million centre is aimed at tackling cancer through supercharging the body’s natural defences to find and destroy it.

The new treatments being developed by Southampton scientists, in the form of vaccines and antibodies, direct special immune cells against cancers.

The killer cells can control and shrink cancer and give long-lasting protection.

The donation was given by a Guernsey resident who has a personal connection to the disease and is a lifelong supporter of medical research.

Professor Sir Christopher Snowden, vice chancellor of the university said: “We are extremely grateful for this significant donation which puts us in reach of our goal allowing the university to continue its pioneering work in immunotherapies for cancer.”

The donation itself will fund a specialist laboratory suite on the third floor of the centre, which is based at Southampton General Hospital.

The facility will be home to five groups of scientists researching ways that antibodies can be used to attack cancer and boost natural immunity to tumours. The teams investigate how immune cells interact with anticancer antibodies and engineer new and better versions of these antibodies to ensure a lasting protection from cancer.

Speaking on the behalf of the donor, their accountant John Bracegirdle said: “Cancer is a horrible disease that affects so many of us but immunotherapy is an exciting area of treatment which is gaining momentum.

“The new centre will enable scientists to continue the fight.”

More information on the centre can be found at www.southampton.ac.uk/youreit