SCIENTISTS IN the US have developed “serial killer” immune cells that can attack and destroy tumours in leukaemia patients.
Leukaemia tumours were wiped out in three patients who underwent the new treatment which is based on genetic engineering.
The tumours were “blown away in a way that was much more violent than we ever expected”, said Prof Carl June of the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Centre. The attacking immune cells “destroyed at least 2lb of tumour in each patient”, he said.
Reports on the research are published today in two leading journals, the New England Journal of Medicineand Science Translational Medicine.
The authors describe the response of three patients with advanced chronic lymphocytic leukaemia who had not responded to conventional treatments.
Immune system T cells were removed from each patient and these were genetically engineered. This added a new gene that helped to “reawaken” the T cells, making them recognise the tumour cells as enemies. The gene also produced a substance on the T cell surface that made it latch on to and attack the leukaemia cells, while leaving most other healthy tissues alone.
Once reintroduced into the patients, the T cells became “serial killers”, Prof June said, each killing off thousands of tumour cells.
The long-term effects of the treatment are unknown but patients have seen remissions of up to a year, the authors write.