Penn researchers in 2010 treated their first chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients with CAR-T therapy, which uses the body’s own immune system to fight cancer. In a paper published [February 2] in the journal Nature, researchers report that their first two patients were still cancer-free 10 years after their treatment. What’s more, the cells were still present, protecting against future lymphoma invaders.
The therapy’s effectiveness and longevity are “beyond our wildest expectations,” one of the doctors told reporters Tuesday.
“Doctors don’t use words like cure lightly or, frankly, very often,” said David L. Porter, the director of Cell Therapy and Transplantation at Penn. “When we started this, I don’t think we were expecting this would develop into such a powerful curative therapy.”
Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T therapy genetically modifies the body’s T-cells — the white blood cells that play a lead role in the body’s immune response to foreign particles — to attack cancer.
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Researchers said they hope their findings about the effectiveness of CAR-T treatment among leukemia patients will spur more research into how the therapy can be used to treat other types of cancer.
