A new treatment for certain blood cancers is creating excitement in normally cautious researchers. At the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology in New Orleans, scientists presented the results of a small study of 22 children and five adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
In this trial, immune system cells called T cells were engineered to react aggressively to leukemia. The T cells are derived from the patient and reprogrammed to recognize and attack a protein called CD19 on the surface of cancer cells. In this research, almost 90 percent of the patients experienced a complete response within a month of receiving the genetically engineered T cells.
Many of the patients in this study had stopped responding to all other treatments. Some were near death. That’s why the dramatic improvement has captured so much attention. To put this treatment into perspective, however, it must be noted that some patients suffered severe side effects from immune system reactions. Nevertheless, this does represent a potentially important advance in the treatment of certain aggressive blood cancers.
[American Society of Hematology annual meeting, Dec. 2013]
