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According to papers published yesterday in Science Translational Medicine and the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania cured leukemia in two out of three patients. This breakthrough treatment involves the genetic re-engineering of the patient’s T cells to fight off the cancer cells. If this new technique proves to be effective, it can be adapted to fight all forms of cancer. The primary men responsible for this breakthrough are medical doctors Carl June and David Porter.
The process of this new treatment begins by extracting the T cells of the patient. T cells refer to a special group of white blood cells called lymphocytes that are critical to the human immune system. After the extraction, they reprogram the T cells to target specific malignant cell and destroy them. The most interesting part, the T cells are reengineered to divide until they build an army to overwhelm their target. Moreover, these cells remain in the body to make sure that their enemies don’t come back.
The Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania has plans to test the technique on pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, brain cancer, and mesothelioma. June wants to ensure that his treatment is fully backed by the FDA before making it commercial.
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death for Americans, behind heart disease. The American Cancer Society (ACS) has released statistics that forecast that 571,950 Americans will die from cancer in 2011. Due to advancements in medicine, we continue to improve survival rates for cancer patients. However, the overall costs related to the treatments were over $260 billion last year. You can visit the oraginization’s website if you’re interested in reading more about cancer and the statistics.
Search Tags: Abramson Cancer Center, Cancer, Carl June, David Porter, T cells, University of Pennsylvania