A 58-year-old woman with advanced ovarian cancer has become the first patient in the world to receive a pioneering off-the-shelf donor cell therapy.
The treatment took place at The Christie hospital in Manchester as part of the Zima-101 clinical trial.
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Tracy Tomlinson, a former civil service manager from Chadderton, Oldham, received the experimental drug ZI-MA4-1.
The trial evaluates engineered natural killer cells derived from healthy donors, modified to target a protein called Mage-A4 found in several solid tumors.
How the Therapy Works
Unlike personalized cell therapies that use a patient's own immune cells, ZI-MA4-1 is manufactured in advance from donor cells.
This approach could allow hundreds of doses from a single batch, potentially reducing costs and speeding up access to advanced treatments.
Tomlinson was diagnosed with stage 3C ovarian cancer in 2020.
Despite surgery and multiple chemotherapy rounds, she currently has a tumor between her liver and kidney, along with smaller lesions.
Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among women in Canada, with an estimated 3,000 new diagnoses and 1,950 deaths expected in 2026.
Only about 15 percent of women survive five years or more after diagnosis, partly due to vague symptoms and lack of screening.
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After being referred to The Christie's early phase trials team, Tomlinson opted to participate. She has received three infusions and may receive a fourth depending on follow-up scans.
