New genetic treatment cured 2 babies who had leukemia

An innovative way of treating cancer recently saved the lives of two babies who had leukemia. The children, who had been diagnosed with intractable leukemia, underwent genetically modified immune cell applications, and after one year of treatment were discharged and healed.

This new treatment was developed by French biotechnology company Cellectis and first put into practice at Great Ormond Street Hospital in Great Britain in 2015.

After the two babies were discharged, treating doctors released information about it. The two children won the battle against the disease 18 and 12 months after treatment began, respectively, according to information released by the Reuters news agency.

According to immunologist Waseem Qasim of the London Hospital, the two cases of infants are evidence that the method of cell modification really works, even though patients undergoing it need constant and long-term monitoring after treatment.

"Although both patients are now at home and doing well, we should treat these results with caution, as we do not yet know if the technique will be successful in treating more patients, " said the expert.

Hope

The first stage of treatment is known as UCART19 and has already been applied to both child and adult patients. The process is to genetically alter a group of immune cells so that they can effectively fight cancer.

In addition to this method, the intention is that over time these modified immune cells can be extracted from healthy donors, which would make this type of therapy universally viable, including economically.

This donation technique is not only applied yet because it risks the emergence of graft versus host disease, which is when the patient's body rejects the donated cells.

This happened to one of the referral patients. She developed graft versus host disease, underwent other treatments, and the problem resolved when she received a bone marrow transplant.

Although the results are not entirely conclusive and the technique cannot be applied worldwide, this kind of advance is very positive in terms of scientific discoveries as it opens the door to new possibilities for research and treatment.