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Friday, September 01, 2006The researchers infused 17 patients suffering from metastatic melanoma with their own white blood cells that had been removed and genetically engineered to fight tumours. The patients' T-cells had been modified with genes that code for receptors designed to recognise melanoma cells. The cancer was eliminated in two male patients, the researchers say. In one case a 52-year-old man had a tumour in his armpit disappear and another on his liver shrunk enough to be surgically removed. He remained disease-free 19 months after treatment, the study says. Another patient, a 30-year-old man, had a lung tumour recede and showed no signs of disease 18 months later. "The tumours went away and both of the patients are now completely disease-free over a year and a half later," says Rosenberg who is chief of surgery at the NCI. Before the experiment, the patients had advanced skin cancer that was not helped by standard therapies and they were expected to live just three to six months, he says. Even though it failed in most of the patients, you just never see that kind of response in melanoma to conventional therapy. Now the question is, what is it that was different about the two people who responded? posted by Sydney on 9/01/2006 08:41:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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