"Training" cells to kill leukemia

A new method of killing cancer cells using a patient's own immune system has reversed leukemia in 88% of patients.

Cancer cells under microscope

A report by scientists in New York, USA, brings good news to the still very new field of cancer immunotherapy, using a type of “biological drug” that was voted a medical breakthrough in 2013 by Science magazine.

The latest trial was conducted on 16 adult patients with a form of blood cancer called B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Fourteen of the 16 patients went into remission after their T cells were genetically engineered to focus on “eradicating” the cancer.

During this process, some immune cells called T cells are taken from the patient's blood and genetically modified to recognize a protein called CD19, on the surface of cancer cells, so they can destroy these cells.

Normally, T cells can attack harmful invaders in the body, but do not touch cancer cells.

“We essentially ‘retrained’ T cells using gene therapy so that they can recognise and attack cancer cells,” the team said.

The median age of patients was 50, and all had a very poor prognosis before entering the trial due to disease recurrence or chemotherapy failure.

The longest remission in these patients to date is 2 years, and many remain well.

Without this therapy, only 30% of relapsed patients are expected to respond to last-line chemotherapy drugs.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia kills about 1,400 people in the United States each year, and while it is among the most treatable cancers, patients often become resistant to chemotherapy and relapse.

According to dantri.com