Genetically Engineered T-Cells May Provide A Cure for Cancer. Scientists Optimistic.
A recent report in the Health and Science section of THE WEEK provides some incredibly encouraging news for cancer patients and their loved ones. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have held only a preliminary study, but are "wildly buoyant" about the results. Three Leukemia patients underwent a special treatment in which their T-Cells, or natural immune system's disease-fighting cells, were genetically re-engineered to specifically target cancer cells; a kind of cellular serial killer. The results are startling: two of the Leukemia patients are cancer-free, and reduced cancer cells in the third by 70%.
According to a report by ABC News, earlier attempts at re-purposing T-Cells have not gone well, with the cells reproducing poorly and eventually disappearing altogether. However, Dr. Carl June, a gene therapy expert at UPenn and one of the researchers on the project, changed their approach. The used a new carrier to bring the new genes into the T-Cell, which then told it to multiply and kill the particular leukemia cells in their patients. Each of the patients were middle-aged men with advanced Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL), and their options had nearly run out. However, with June and his team's efforts, the men experienced unprecedented reversals in their conditions. June said that the T-Cells typically attack viruses, killing viral material in the body and then going after any new viruses that pop up, but that's precisely how they attacked the cancer.
