A Hampshire doctor has shared how the use of a new drug could help the immune system fight cancer in children.

Dr Zoe Walters, associate professor at the University of Southampton, is leading a team of researchers to find kinder and more effective ways of treating rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), the most common type of soft tissue cancer in children.

In 2014, Children with Cancer UK funded Dr Walters to research the new use of a drug called an EZH2 inhibitor that is in use for other adult cancers to be used to treat RMS in children.

She identified EZH2, a protein present at abnormally high levels in tumour tissue, and is researching whether medicating against EZH2 will stop RMS cells from growing and be potentially curative.

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Dr Walters is researching the new use of a drug called an EZH2 inhibitor (Image: Children with Cancer UK) Dr Walters, who lives in Alresford, said: "What we're now starting to realise is that the drug might actually help reawaken the immune system in patients so that we might be able to use the patient's own immune system to help fight the cancer, and then also have memory of that so the body will remember and it will stop the cancer coming back.

"And that's the ultimate hope for this particular drug."

In the UK, around 55 children are diagnosed with RMS each year.

Available treatments have remained largely unchanged for 20 years and, while effective for some children, can cause long-term side effects that affect their normal development.

Children with Cancer UK works closely with scientists and medical experts to help pioneer science and innovation in paediatric cancer research.

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In 2023, the charity invested more than £6m into research, funding 11 new research grants.

Dr Walters said: "It's almost indescribable to get this funding. It really was life changing. It was the thing that allowed me to pursue my dream.

"I just want to say a massive thank you to everybody who has done, is thinking about, or is in any way connected with the charity.

"Without your support, generosity and funding, we wouldn't be able to do this type of work and we wouldn't be able to find new, better, less harmful treatments for these patients."

Dr Sultana Choudhry, head of research at Children with Cancer UK, said: "By funding much-needed research projects such as Dr Walters’, we are able to support the development of kinder treatments so more children will get the chance to grow up and live their life to the fullest."