23 October 2013 Last updated at 15:50 ET By Michele Paduano BBC Midlands health correspondent

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Doctors at University Hospital of Birmingham NHS Trust have been working on the project for 15 years

Doctors in Birmingham have started a trial of a new gene therapy treatment they hope will help fight prostate cancer.

Injected directly into the tumour it is is designed to stimulate the body's own immune system.

Bernard Ward, 68, from Birmingham was the first patient in the world to receive the new procedure.

He is one of 20 patients taking part in the first phase of a trial by University Hospitals Birmingham.

The initial trial is designed to establish whether the treatment is safe for clinical use.

Mr Ward has suffered from prostate cancer for six years and standard treatments are no longer working.

"I just hope it works. I don't have any choice but to try this treatment because I haven't got anything else," he said.

View post:
Doctors pioneer cancer gene therapy

Comments are closed.