Treatment helps the body's natural defenses fight cancer

A treatment that helps the human body fight blood cancer shows promising signs against some you die.

The treatment strengthens the person's natural defenses against diseases. Its success against tumors suggests that this method could be extended to more common cancers in the future.

Treatment is called CAR-T treatment. It involves making genetic changes to some of a patient's cells to help them recognize and attack cancer.

Richard Carlstrand of Long Key, Florida, had the therapy more than a year ago for mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs.

"We were going to unknown territories" to try this, he told the Associated Press. But now he shows no signs of cancer and "I could not be happier," said Carlstrand.

Experts discussed the results of his case and other cases at a conference organized by the American Association for Cancer Research last month in Atlanta, Georgia.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the first two CAR-T treatments in 2017 for some forms of leukemia and lymphoma. Leukemia affects the blood and bone marrow. Lymphoma is a cancer that starts in the cells of the body that fight infections. immune system.

Researchers begin treatment with by modifying Immune system cells in a laboratory. They return the cells to the patient through a intravenous drop. This places the cells exactly where the cancer is – in the blood.

But this method does not work well if cells have to travel far across the blood to reach tumors in the lungs, breast or other places.

Prasad Adusumilli is a physician at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He notes that in these cases, an insufficient number of cells can make cancer an effect.

"Solid tumors are popular to not let immune cells enter, "said Adusumilli.

A more important concern is that the proteins on the solid tumor cells that these therapies target are also found on normal cells at lower levels. So the treatment could also hurt them.

Adusumilli helped design a new CAR-T treatment to try to avoid these problems and tested it on 19 mesothelioma patients. He also tested it on a patient with lung cancer and another with breast cancer. In these patients, the cancer had spread to the upper lining of the body. In the United States, approximately 150,000 patients are confronted with this situation each year.

The altered cells were injected directly into the upper part of the body where the tumors were. A genetic safety check has been added so that drugs can be administered to destroy the cells if they cause damage.

After the therapy, the doctors were able to perform a medical operation on the patient, who also received radiotherapy treatments. Twenty months later, this person is fine, no further treatment is planned. Fifteen other patients were well enough to start taking a medication that improves the immune system in a different way.

Eleven of the 15 were studied long enough to report on the results. Two had signs of cancer gone for about a year, but one had cancer later. Six saw their tumors contract. In three other cases, the cancer is aggravated.

There were no serious side effects; However, some patients temporarily had a low rate. blood counts and said he felt tired.

Money from the US federal government and private groups paid for the work. A larger study is planned. The Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has authorized Atara Biotherapeutics to use this treatment. Like Adusumilli, the center can receive payments from the company.

A second study tested a different CAR-T treatment in 10 children and adults. Advanced sarcomas were sarcomas, with cancers occurring for the first time in soft tissues or bones. Unlike other DAS-Ts that are usually given only once, this one has been given more than once. In fact, one patient received treatment 15 times as there were signs that he was helping.

Shoba Navai is a physician at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. She stated that in her study, the researchers had removed a large amount of T-Cells from patients' blood and then frozen them. They would then return the cells to patients intravenously, as needed.

Two of the 10 patients with all the signs of cancer disappeared, one for 17 months and the other for almost three years. The disease appeared to be under control in two other patients. The conditions of five others worsened.

The side effects were similar to those of the other study. The therapy seems safe "and we have early signs that this treatment approach can help, "said Navai.

Many non-profit organizations and groups paid for the work.

"These studies show that there may be a way forward in solid tumors" with CAR-T therapies, said Louis Weiner. He runs the Georgetown Lombardi Cancer Center and was one of the conference leaders. CAR-T could be promising for some cancers of the stomach, breast, lung and other regions, he said.

However, the cost is a big problem. Current CAR-T therapies cost about $ 400,000, but can be done at much less than in research centers. Doctors hope that the cost will decrease as more and more treatments come on the market and achieve wider use.

I am Alice Bryant.
And I'm Pete Musto.

Marilynn Marchione reported this story to the Associated Press. Pete Musto adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the publisher.

We want your news. How far do you think CAR-T will be effective in treating cancer in the future? Write to us in the Comments section or on our Facebook page.

______________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Words in this story

tumor(s) – not. a mass of tissue found in or on the body and composed of abnormal cells

immune system – not. the system that protects your body against diseases and infections

edit(ing) – v. change something

intravenous – adj. enter the body through a vein

blood – not. the flow of blood circulating in the heart and body

popular – adj. well known or famous especially for something bad

blood count(s) – not. the number of cells in the blood of someone's

approach – not. a way of doing or thinking about something