Photo: National Cancer Institute | Unsplash
In 2010, Doug Olson received an experimental cancer therapy to treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia. CAR-T therapy removes immune cells called T cells, genetically alters them to recognize cancer cells, and then re-infuses them to seek out and destroy tumors. Since 2010, five CAR-T-cell therapies have been approved to treat leukemias, lymphomas and myelomas and tens of thousands have received such treatment, but it is expensive, risky and technically demanding and remains a last resort. While Olson's doctors now say that CAR-T therapy can cure leukemia, they are still trying to figure out exactly how it works - it's not clear if the CAR T cells killed all leukemia cells soon after they were infused or if the cells that continue to patrol are able to destroy any leukemia cells before they reach detectable levels.
|
|
More:
