Blood cells from a patient suffering from chronic lymphocytic leukemiaFLICKR, ED UTHMANScientists have combined the ability to reprogram stem cells into T cells with a recently developed strategy for genetically modifying patients’ own T cells to seek and destroy tumors. The result is the capacity to mass-produce in the laboratory an unlimited quantity of cancer-fighting cells that resemble natural T cells, a type of white blood cell that fights cancer and viruses. In a study published today (August 11) in Nature Biotechnology, researchers show that the genetically engineered cells can effectively wipe out tumors in a mouse model of lymphoma.
“To put these two techniques together is really groundbreaking,” said Pam Ohashi, a cell biologist at the Ontario Cancer Institute, who was not involved in the study. “The idea that you can make unlimited numbers of tumor-killing cells is very exciting.”
Earlier this year, a team led by cancer specialist Michel Sadelain at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center reported Phase 1 clinical trial results showing that treatment with genetically manipulated T cells could quickly eradicate tumors in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a tenacious cancer that kills more than 60 percent of those afflicted. However, the immunotherapy—one of a number of treatments in which the immune system is trained to attack cancer—requires the extraction, processing, and reintroduction of T cells from each individual patient’s own ...
