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Reversing the order of treatment for patients with certain cancers could increase survival rates by up to 60 per cent, Queensland scientists have found during an experiment on mice.
Researchers at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute trialled giving immunotherapy drugs to mice with breast cancer before surgery, rather than after.
Survival rates are usually very low, but about half of the mice treated in this order were cured.
Dr Michele Teng, who led the study, said if they results were replicated in humans it could lead to widespread changes in oncology practices.
"To our surprise, when we gave mice a combination of two immunotherapy drugs before surgery, between 40 and 60 per cent were cured of triple-negative breast cancer," she said.
"It appears that this therapy destroyed any cancer cells that had spread to other parts of the body and stopped the cancer from returning."
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Photo: Malignant breast cancer cells, with the cancer killing about half a million people worldwide a year. (Supplied)
