Gene Therapy Used to Rid Acute Leukemia

On March 20, 2013, an article was published in Science Translational Medicine about how gene therapy was used for curing Acute Leukemia. Gene therapy was used in T-cells that were engineered to attack B-cells in humans. This engineering of the T-cells has caused cases of Acute Leukemia to go into remission in five patients. The patients remission lasted from a range of five months to two years, with a few deaths that haven't been determined whether the treatment was the cause or if the deaths were unrelated. 

I think this article is very interesting because it shows how close scientists are at curing a cancer that causes about 257,000 deaths a year. Even if the scientists aren't able to cure leukemia, they are still getting closer each day and that will help all the people with this cancer to be able to live longer. This study of leukemia will be able to cause the cancer to go into remission for many patients and could eventually help scientists realize what causes other types of cancer and how to use gene therapy to get rid of them as well.

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References:

1. Yandell, Kate. "The Scientist." The Scientist. N.p., 27 Mar. 2013. Web. 31 Mar. 2013.

2. Brentjens, Renier J., Marco L. Davila, Isabelle Riviere, and Michel Sadelain. "CD19-Targeted T Cells Rapidly Induce Molecular Remissions in Adults with Chemotherapy-Refractory Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia." CD19-Targeted T Cells Rapidly Induce Molecular Remissions in Adults with Chemotherapy-Refractory Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. American Association for the Advancement of Science, 20 Mar. 2013. Web. 31 Mar. 2013.