Patients ‘cured of cancer’ after pioneering T-cell therapy

First two patients to be given treatment saw improved symptoms within weeks and no return of illness 10 years on

The new therapy uses immune cells to target and attack cancer. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Two patients treated with an innovative cell therapy that uses immune cells to fight cancer have seen no return of their illness in 10 years, raising hopes of a cure.

The CAR T-cell treatment involves reprogramming a patient’s own immune system cells to target and destroy their cancer.

Two patients who suffered with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia underwent CAR T-cell therapy in 2010 and saw all signs and symptoms of their leukaemia disappear within months of treatment, according to a study published in the journal Nature.

A decade later, both patients still have cancer-fighting T-cells present in their bodies. One of the them, Doug Olson, is able to run half-marathons after his treatment.

In the UK, the therapy is currently available for children and young adults with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and adults with certain types of lymphoma – both of which are blood cancers.

Professor Carl June, at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia told The Guardian: “We call these cells a living therapy, but it was a big surprise to us that they are still able to kill cancer cells 10 years after infusion.

“We can’t say whether every last cancer cell was gone within three weeks [of treatment], or it could be that they keep coming up like whack-a-mole and then get killed, but we know that these [CAR T-cells] are on patrol. They persist and they are functional.”

Prof Martin Pule, the director of the UCL Cancer Institute CAR T-cell programme, added: “A decade ago, CAR T-cell therapy was a therapeutic approach explored by a very small number of scientists and was considered a fringe approach and unlikely to work.

“This paper shows us that CAR T-cells can give patients with cancers which no longer respond to chemotherapy remissions which last a decade.”