WIKIMEDIA, VASHIDONSKThe scientific community witnessed an unexpected medical breakthrough last year, when a child with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) was treated with the help of HIV. Emily Whitehead, who was 7 at the time, underwent an experimental treatment in which millions of T cells were extracted from her body and re-engineered to target cancer cells. Researchers delivered new genes to the T cells through a disabled HIV strain that specifically targeted CD19 proteins on the surface of most B cells, immune cells that turn malignant in leukemia. Since the treatment, Emily has been in full remission and has gone back to school. She is now living a healthy and happy life.
After more than a decade’s worth of immunotherapy research and experimentation, approaches such as re-engineering T cells hold promise for conquering cancer. Still, it is too soon to jump to conclusions. Of the 11 other patients—10 adults and another child—treated with experimental immunotherapies in recent years, three with chronic leukemia had complete remissions; four showed improvements, but did not beat the disease completely; two saw no effect; one was treated too recently to be evaluated; and the child, who initially responded, eventually relapsed.
Soon after her treatment, Emily nearly died due to severe fever. Fortunately, the doctors found out that cytokine-release syndrome—or cytokine storm, when natural chemicals pour out of immune cells as they are activated—caused the fever and other symptoms, and were able to ...
