At the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, the scientists presented preliminary results of a new cancer treatment method as an oral presentation. The abstracts of the report can be found on the website of the association.
During treatment, the patient is harvested cells of the immune system - T-lymphocytes (T-cells). The task of these bodies is to destroy damaged cells and harmful microbes, the molecular structures of which they are able to determine. Laboratory research has made it possible to program T cells to look for cancer cells. The resulting bodies, called CHAR (chimeric antigen receptor) T cells, were able to identify the CD19 protein, which is involved in the formation of lymphomas and leukemias. After using this technique, remission occurred in 27 out of 29 cases of the fatal form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The method has also been used successfully in the treatment of a small number of patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
This is not the first time that CHAR T cells have been used in the treatment of human cancers. In late 2015, scientists from London were involved in the development of a T-cell receptor to combat leukemia in a one-year-old girl.
According to Stanley Riddell of the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center in Seattle, who spoke about preliminary results at the AAAS meeting, the use of CHP T cells is a highly effective strategy in fighting tumors. Riddell noted that there are many major challenges ahead for scientists to keep waste to a minimum and make treatment suitable for other types of cancer. Also, to date, it is not yet fully understood how effective this method will be against other types of malignant tumors, such as breast cancer. It is worth remembering that the information provided by scientists is preliminary and has not yet been published in scientific journals.