New Cancer Treatment

BY MELANIE SMITH

According to the National Cancer Institute, there will be an estimated 1,685,210 additional cases of cancer and an additional 595,690 deaths this year.  Last month, Stanley Riddell, immunotherapy researcher and oncologist at the Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, developed a revolutionary type of treatment for leukemia and other blood cancers.

Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of cells.  Genetic material in each cell, known as DNA, can be damaged due to exposure to chemicals, radiation, or errors in duplication.  As a result, the cell begins to divide uncontrollably, producing identical copies of itself, all with the same genetic mutations.  While it initially appears benign, cells cannot perform their specified tasks during division.  For instance, if a lung cell is constantly dividing, it is not aiding the body in uptaking oxygen.  Eventually the cells combine to form a tumor, and can push against other healthy organs. If some of these cells break off and metastasize, or travel to somewhere else in the body, this can cause major issues.  After metastasis, it is very difficult to find and remove cancerous cells.  Blood cancers in particular are dangerous because the cardiovascular system serves as a highway to every place in the body.  Furthermore, blood cells are an important part of the body’s immune system. The immune system utilizes white blood cells to target, destroy, and remember deleterious pathogens, ranging from the flu to damaged tissues to even cancerous cells.  However, the system can be flawed and fail to identify and attack tumors.  

In the trial, white blood cells were extracted from the patients, all terminally ill with months to live.  The cells were then sent to the lab where they were genetically engineered with chimeric antigen receptors, or CAR.  Once the cells were re-administered to the patients, the white blood cells were able to target and destroy cancerous cells.  For these patients with no other options, the treatment was a huge success.

“[The patients] were really at the end of the line in terms of treatment options and yet a single dose of this therapy put more than ninety percent of these patients in complete remission where we can’t detect any of these leukaemia cells,” Riddell told the BBC.

While many feel that this is a huge step in the field of immunotherapy and cancer treatment, other experts are more skeptical.  Currently, the treatment is for blood cancers, not addressing other types of the disease.  Additionally, Riddell has not published the official data, so many scientists are skeptical to accept his claims.  Furthermore, the treatment has caused seven patients to develop severe cases of cytokine release syndrome in which the immune system rejects the new white blood and initiates a reaction within the body, and had to be placed in intensive care units; two of these patients died.

“While those odds may be acceptable if facing terminal cancer, the side-effects are much greater than conventional leukaemia treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which work in the majority of patients,” BBC reporter James Gallagher said.

However, even the most skeptic agree that the findings are an exciting event in the field of oncology, the study of cancer.  Science has a long way to go, but is making great strides.  Perhaps one day it will be successful in preventing 595,690 deaths a year.
“The field of immunotherapy – harnessing the immune system to attack cancer – is coming of age,” Gallagher said. “It’s an exciting time that is likely to see immunotherapy soon join chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery as major weapons in the fight against cancer.”