Impossible is possible: the pensioner was able to get rid of three types of cancer

Less than a month ago, the staff of the US Office of Sanitary Surveillance on the Quality of Food and Drugs suggested that the regulatory commission give a positive assessment of the method of treatment of cancer tumors, which uses gene editing. Such a technique has been described as "a new stage in medicine," Republic magazine reports, referring to the report of Nautilus.

The newest product, made from the patient's own blood cells, is expensive, but the price justifies itself. His action almost kills the patient, but complete death does not happen: the cancer cells are destroyed, and healing comes.

The research and testing of the new drug took several years, but now it has passed hundreds of clinical trials. However, the most revealing was the first time when none of the specialists could say with accuracy what effect the new remedy would have.

The pioneer, who tried a new technique, was William Ludwig - an elderly man of 64 years, living in New Jersey. He was in critical condition: at that time he was diagnosed simultaneously with three different types of cancer - squamous epithelioma, lymphoma and anemia. The chemotherapy drugs were already useless, and the damaged b-cells chaotically spread throughout the body. And then it was decided to test on this patient a new unique kind of therapy, which represented, in fact, a complete reset of immunity.

The mechanism of treatment was this: it was necessary to restore the property of the patient's antibodies to counteract the oncomarkers. Normally, antibodies bind them and mark them as unnecessary for the body. In turn, T-lymphocytes show a formed structure consisting of antigens and antibodies, and stimulate the triggering of an immune response through cytokines.

The new method in question was invented in 1989 by the staff of the Weizmann Institute in Israel: it was called CAR-T (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cells). As a chimeric receptor is a protein, consisting of links belonging to different source, which is the reason for the term "chimera". This allows T-lymphocytes to identify cancer cells, for further targeted attack by immune defense.

The CAR-T project for the first patient was created using a computer, based on the gene segments of rodents, marmots and cows. After this, a chimeric DNA molecule was built that did not exist in its natural form. The specialists injected the molecule into neutral HIV, took Ludwig's venous blood and passed it through the device that separates the T-lymphocytes. The cells were attached to the virus in such a way that the artificial gene was freely inserted into the cellular genome. This led to the fact that lymphocytes were able to identify individual markers located on malignant b-structures.

The specialists were based only on their own assumptions and could not confidently say what exactly would happen next, and whether such a reset would lead to aggravation of intoxication.

The patient was willing to take risks, and in August 2010 he was given the first stage of treatment, carefully analyzing the reaction of the body. After two injections, the patient's state of health did not improve. However, ten days later, before the third dose of lymphocytes, the patient suddenly became ill: a febrile condition appeared, palpitation increased, and blood pressure increased. According to doctors, a cytokine storm has started - a potentially lethal immune response. The essence of such a reaction is that T-lymphocytes showed the necessary antigens and beckoned cytokines that stimulate a protective immune response. This process led to an increase in temperature, vasodilation and palpitation: such mechanisms were used to help the lymphocytes to get closer to the goal.

The storm lasted a couple of hours, after which it ended abruptly. A month later the doctors performed an analysis of the bone marrow sample. There was no limit to their surprise: it was a model of an absolutely healthy person. To prevent confusion, the doctors conducted a second analysis, which only confirmed: there were no cancer cells in William Ludwig's body. The doctors were amazed, because before they had never seen such cardinal changes for the better.

During the year after the treatment, the specialists did not tell the patient about the positive results obtained, being careful of the recurrence of the disease. But the tests each time confirmed - there is no cancer.

According to experts, before the start of treatment, Ludwig's body contained at least a kilogram of malignant cells. With the help of a new type of treatment it was possible to completely remove them - no one previously achieved this result.

Subsequent clinical trials have made it possible to save patients from a larger volume of cancer cells, from one and a half to 3.5 kg for several days. And two years later, the doctors managed to cure the six-year-old girl Emily Whitehead, who still feels fine to this day.

Physicians applied this type of treatment to hundreds of patients. Unfortunately, not all patients had a smooth course of therapy: in some, the immune response was manifested only by a slight fever, while in others - with marked seizures and the development of a critical condition. Specialists were forced to complete clinical experiments after 13% of deaths.

Today, scientists are working to remove some of the technical problems of this technique. It is necessary to correct the T-lymphocytes, directing them only to strictly specific markers-for example, only the cells of a breast cancer. The difficulty lies in the fact that such markers are normally found in minimal amounts in healthy structures, in the heart tissues, in the thymus. To avoid problems, specialists need to create lymphocytes with a chimeric programmable receptor that could be controlled. It would also be nice to predict in advance how this or that organism will treat the treatment.

At the moment, unforeseen reactions of the body happen relatively often. For example, in the spring of 2017, scientists stopped experiments in connection with the death of 5 of 38 patients who participated in the testing.

Nevertheless, the successes of this treatment are obvious, and several corporations, including the pharmacological company Novartis, are working on the new method. Therefore, presumably, CAR-T-therapy will soon be presented as the main method for fighting cancer.

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