Gene Transfer Therapy Creates Killer T Cells- Wipes out Tumors

In a new study reported in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine and The Journal of Science Translational Medicine according to Medical News Today researchers from the University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center and Pereleman School of Medicine conducted a small trial of three patients to show the effects of gene transfer on tumors.

The three participants in the trial all had advanced stage Leukemias and had only bone marrow transplant as a potential treatment option. Bone marrow transplant is a risky procedure resulting in 1 in 5 patients deaths with long hospital stays and less than a 50% success rate.

The Trial

The researchers gathered t-cells from the participants and genetically modified the T Cells with lentivirus factors. The T-Cells were then returned to their host participants after a round of chemo therapy.

The results were simply phenomenal!

The Results

The three patients all accepted the new genetically engineered T -Cells with little problem. The report documents that one patient a 64 year old male, initially showed no signs of improvement during the first fourteen days of the trial. At day 14 this participant started experiencing the symptoms lysis syndrome- syndrome associated with the quick retreat of cancer cells.

After 28 days the patient had recovered from the lysis syndrome and was cancer free. The T Cells had replicated on their own. The results were duplicated in the other two trial participants minus the lysis syndrome.

The study did not look at long term effects but the three trial patients after six months they were still cancer free!

What Does this Mean?

It is not known at this time whether this testing can be translated to include other cancer patients. Clearly this is a long way from being a viable treatment option however it is a very hopeful study. Health insurance companies follow this type of testing closely to keep up with the latest treatments but will usually not cover experimental treatments, in some cases you may be able to convince your health insurance company of the worthiness of providing not so much coverage for the procedure but coverage for the support procedures that are needed.

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