Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Cell Therapy




A large study was completed at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center on patients with advance leukemia. They found that 88% of patients went into remission with the use of genetically modified T cells (their own immune cells). Patients with adult B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which is a type of blood cancer in B cells,  normally relapse without a successful bone marrow transplant. So sixteen patients were given genetically modified immune cells from their own body. The cells were modified so that they would recognize and destroy cancer cells that contained the protein CD19. The modified cells are called chimeric antigen receptor T cells. The results were better than the traditional method with salvage chemotherapy. The first patient to receive the treatment is still in remission three years later. This treatment basically uses the persons own immune system to attack and kill the cancer cells because traditionally, without the genetically modified cells, the body does not recognize cancer cells as something to fight off. This method was also successful for cancer treatment in 2013 when tested on five different advanced B-ALL patients. The only known side effects are severe flu-like symptoms (fever), cytokine release syndrome (trouble breathing), low blood pressure, and muscle pain.
I think that the modification of your own body cells is a great new technology to fight cancer. It may prove to have many less side effects than traditional chemotherapy. Using your own cells instead of something foreign and potentially hazardous is a great thing. Hopefully the side effects are manageable and this treatment can be offered more commonly to help more cancer patients reach remission.

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