Possible Leukemia Cure

A report at The Blaze gives renewed hope for cancer sufferers. The article tells of a cure for leukemia that seems to work, although it has yet to receive large-scale testing. Even so, if it proves successful it may have applications in fighting other kinds of cancer, including pancreatic, prostate, ovarian and brain cancer. Here's an excerpt:

Scientists are reporting the first clear success with a new approach for treating leukemia – turning the patients’ own blood cells into assassins that hunt and destroy their cancer cells.

They’ve only done it in three patients so far, but the results were striking: Two appear cancer-free up to a year after treatment, and the third patient is improved but still has some cancer. Scientists are already preparing to try the same gene therapy technique for other kinds of cancer.

“It worked great. We were surprised it worked as well as it did,” said Dr. Carl June, a gene therapy expert at the University of Pennsylvania. “We’re just a year out now. We need to find out how long these remissions last.”

For the experiment, blood was taken from each patient and T-cells removed. After they were altered in a lab, millions of the cells were returned to the patient in three infusions.

The researchers described the experience of one 64-year-old patient in detail. There was no change for two weeks, but then he became ill with chills, nausea and fever. He and the other two patients were hit with a condition that occurs when a large number of cancer cells die at the same time – a sign that the gene therapy is working.

For the sake of all those who suffer from these afflictions and who will suffer from them in the future, let's hope and pray that this procedure continues to give successful results in the rigorous testing that lies ahead.