A potential breakthrough in cancer treatment was made last year in Philadelphia, Penn. In a National Institutes of Health-funded clinical trial, doctors treated three late-stage cancer patients using their own modified immune cells.
A potential breakthrough in cancer treatment was made last year in Philadelphia, Penn. In a National Institutes of Health-funded clinical trial, doctors treated three late-stage cancer patients using their own modified immune cells.
In at least one documented case, the treatment completely eliminated the cancer in just weeks. One year post-treatment, the patient in question was still cancer free.
If this method makes it out of clinical trials and into the world of mainstream oncology, it could potentially be used as a late-stage treatment for B cell cancers. B cell cancers, such as leukemia and lymphoma, are among the most common and, like many cancers, are likely to relapse. Further research into this method might even help find potential cures or treatments for other cancers and or diseases.
The treatment works like this: T cells from the patient’s immune system are harvested and modified through use of a lentivirus, which is a slow-moving retrovirus. In this case, an inactive form of HIV is used. This makes the cell known as a lentiviral vector. The lentiviral vector then display antibodies against certain parts of B cells that are most likely to show up when they are affected by cancer. The cells are then reintroduced to the patient’s body. When they encounter a cancerous B cell, the modified T cells attack and destroy it.
For those worried about getting AIDS from this treatment, relax. The virus used to modify the T cells is non-infectious. It will not make cancer sufferers have to endure the fates of Eazy-E or Freddie Mercury.
It does, however, run a high risk. The immune system response is very strong. It has been described as vicious and painful, but it works.
It isn’t too good to be true. According to an editorial for the New England Journal of Medicine co-written by Dr. Walter J. Urba of the Providence Cancer Center in Portland, there are definite advantages to the treatment over other existing ones. Among these is the low risk of graft-versus-host disease, which can occur when foreign cells are introduced into the body. Another benefit is that the modified cells can be made quickly, meaning that the patient can undergo treatment relatively quickly after the cells are harvested.
Dr. Urba is optimistic but still advises caution on the editorial. “Only with the more widespread clinical use” of this treatment, he said, can the medical community have any certainty that the therapy will be clinically applicable.
Still, the kind of early results seen by this treatment are promising. It suggests that the cure for cancer is not in an artificially developed serum or pill, but rather in the modification (or specialization) of the body’s own immune system. It is a definite step forward in finding treatments and cures for disease in general—not just cancer.
What makes the lentiviral vector so special is that it gives the immune system a target that it previously would not have recognized as dangerous. While the treatment currently shows promise only in diseases affecting B cells, a treatment like this could potentially be modified to attack other types of diseased cells.
Experts suggest reigning in the jubilation, though. While research is being done on lentiviral vectors, much of it has had mediocre, if not poor, results. In addition, not all of the patients who received these treatments had good outcomes. At least two people are known to have died as a direct result of their treatments. The treatment itself is also dangerous, given that it has the potential to damage or destroy healthy tissues as well as diseased.
However, this does not mean that this avenue of treatment should not be researched. Quite the opposite, in fact. With more research into the mechanisms by which this works, it should become easier to control both the target of the modified cells and the strength of the reaction. It is entirely possible that with the proper vector, doctors could treat cancer in breathtaking ways.
More research should be done into lentiviral vectors as a potential treatment—not only for cancer, but for other applications as well. The mechanism by which this works is brilliant, despite being more than a little dangerous. It could be refined if funded and studied in more places and with more diseases.
While the lentiviral treatment is still in the earliest levels of human testing, the potential is enormous. With time and effort, B cell cancers and possibly many other serious diseases may soon be things of the past.
