The first successful treatment was in a 7-year-old girl, Emma Whitehead saving her "from deaths door into remission nearly a year ago." (Grady) Emma has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) the most common type of childhood cancer. Lymphoblastic leukemia is cancer of the blood and bone marrow [primarily affects B-cells]. It is caused when bone marrow makes too many immature white blood cells. These cells do not work like normal white blood cells and are not able to fight infection effectively. (NCI, NIH) ALL gets progressively worse with age and has a 60% fatality rate in adults and a 10% rate in children. (Grady)
Research was done by Dr. Michael Sedelian, the director of the Center for Cell Engineering and Genetics Lab at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan New York. He states:
["Usually patients like the ones in this study, who relapse after chemotherapy, usually have only a few months left. But with this new treatment three out of five patients have been in remission for five or more months. Two others have died: one was in remission but passed away from a blood clot, and the other relapsed. The survivors have gone on to have bone marrow transplants. Their prognosis is good but relapse is still possible and only time will tell."] (Grady, Sedelain)
Other researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, have become intrigued by this research and plan to conduct similar tests of their own.
How the treatment works: A patient's blood would be extracted and run through a machine separating the T- cells from the blood. A T-cell is a type of white blood cell that helps fight infection and maintain immunity. The researchers would modify the T-cells to attack any cell that carried a certain protein, called CD-19. CD-19 is located in the B-cells that have the cancerous material. The genetically modified T-cells are reprogrammed to attack and destroy any cell containing CD-19. In theory, destroying all B-cells (which can be replaced) along with the cancer sending the patient into remission. (Grady)
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| Picture from: Google Images |
The process itself may be as grueling as chemotherapy. Dr. Brentjens conducted a treatment on an 58- year old individual who was unsuccessful with chemotherapy treatments. This patient experienced a high fever of 105 degrees, a severe drop in blood pressure and a spike in heart rate. This patient was placed under intensive care during this process and after eight days the leukemia was undetectable after numerous tests.
Dr. Carl June, a Professor of Pathology at the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center has sent two of the three patients he has worked with into remission using the same techniques. However these patients did not receive the standard bone marrow transplant. Dr. Carl June said, "Because all three patients have had amazing anti-tumor response, literally pounds of leukemia have been shed off all three patients." (Medical Health Discoveries)
Today bone marrow transplants have been used to treat this acute type of leukemia but Dr. Junes research supports evidence that this alternative treatment may have promising results in curing cancer.
References:
Grady, D. (2013). Cell therapy shows promise for acute type of leukemia. Retrieved March 24, 2013
from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/health/altered-t-cell-therapy-shows-promise-for-acute-leukemia.html?_r=1&
Medical Heath Discoveries. (2013) American researchers found cure for leukemia. Retrieved March
24, 2013. From http://www.medicalhealthdiscoveries.com/2011/08/american-researchers-found-cure-for.html
National Cancer Institute at the National Institute of Health (2013). General Information about
Childhood Lymphoblastic Leukemia.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/childALL/Patient/page1
Very exciting for the future of the medical field. Have you heard about the case recently in which apparently a patient was cured of the HIV virus?
ReplyDelete"Nanoparticles smaller than HIV were infused with the bee venom toxin, explains U.S. News & World Report. A "protective bumper" was added to the nanoparticle's surface, allowing it to bounce off normal cells and leave them intact. Normal cells are larger than HIV, so the nanoparticles target HIV, which is so small it fits between the bumpers."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/09/bee-venom-kills-hiv-cells_n_2843743.html
Very interesting.
Chris--see the older posts on this page. That HIV discussion has been addressed here, too.
ReplyDeleteNice post! I think you know by now that cancer treatment is quite close to my heart as I've been with my mother during her first chemotherapy treatment/subsequent failure (she almost died due to what seemed like an allergic reaction with the chemotherapy). So seeing any type of cancer being tackled in a successful way is a win for us all.
This post has a great blend of text/visuals, source balancing, and content. My main note: why is your big excerpt in brackets? Think about setting it off as an excerpt (I can show you that on Monday...). One other question: is this research past the FDA approval stages?