A therapy dubbed ‘chemoimmunotherapy’, which combines chemotherapy with a boost to the immune system could wipe out prostate cancer, according to researchers at the University of California, San Diego.

Scientists at the university have called for clinical testing after the treatment ‘almost completely destroyed’ human disease tumours in mice.

It is thought the treatment, which uniquely activates cancer-killing immune cells, could prove particularly successful in prostate cancer patients, due to the cancer’s immunosuppressive ‘B-cells’ which can prevent conventional therapies, such as chemotherapy, from working effectively.

Prostate cancer affects around 41,000 men in the UK every year, and around 11,000 men with prostate cancer die every year.

Madeleine Pinschof a senior clinical negligence solicitor based in Thompsons Solicitors’ Bristol office, said: “Although this treatment may be in the early stages of research, these latest findings offer hope that treatment for prostate cancer will improve in years to come.

“However, while we await advancements in revolutionary treatments for cancer, it is essential that NHS staff are properly supported to ensure cancer patients are being diagnosed at the earliest opportunity and can begin treatment straight away.

“Any delay in diagnosis of cancer can have a devastating effect on the prognosis of a patient. Sufficient support and funding for diagnostics services and staff must be an absolute priority for the next government, something that has been distinctly lacking over the last five years.”