Scientists have announced that their new treatment has led to complete remission in five cancer patients, with no detectable cancerous cells being left to threaten their wellbeing. The patients’ wellness had already suffered a serious relapse of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a form of cancer of the white blood cells, before they were given transfusions of their own immune cells that had been genetically modified with an extra cancer-fighting gene.
Renier Brentjens of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York and lead author of the study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, explained, ‘Patients with relapsed B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia resistant to chemotherapy have a particularly poor prognosis. This ability of our approach to achieve complete remissions in all of these very sick patients is what makes these findings so remarkable and this novel therapy so promising.’
He continued, ‘By serving as a bridge to stem-cell transplants, this therapy could potentially help cure adult patients with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia that has relapsed and who are chemotherapy resistant. Otherwise, these patients have a virtually incurable disease.’ He added, ‘We need to examine the effectiveness of this targeted immunotherapy in additional patients before it could potentially become a standard treatment for patients with relapsed B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.’
Professor Paul Moss, who runs the Birmingham Cancer Research UK Centre and was not involved with the study, noted that this small study’s results demonstrate why so many researchers are excited about immunotherapy’s potential. ‘Although this treatment may not itself be a cure, it does seem to be able to produce remissions in patients whose [cancer] has relapsed. This can then make patients eligible for stem cell transplantation – which can lead to a cure,’ he said.
‘It’s just one of several similar approaches being tested in clinical trials around the world, including here in the UK,’ he added. ‘Although it’s early days for these trials, the approach of modifying a patient’s T-cells [white blood cells] to attack their cancer is looking increasingly like one that will, in time, have a place alongside more traditional treatments like chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery.’
Comments are closed.