At the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology, several studies demonstrate the effectiveness of cell therapies against hematological cancers.
Immunotherapy against cancer is making great strides. Many research teams are currently presenting the success of these new treatments for treating blood cancers at the annual meeting of the American Hematology Society.
Since 2010, the idea of stimulating the immune system to fight cancer cells has been seen as a promising and even revolutionary lead. And clinical trials conducted around the world confirm these hopes. Indeed, they show that this therapeutic strategy is effective in patients with advanced cancers and allows lasting remission.
This is particularly the case for two studies presented on December 6 and 7, 2015 by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania. They tested the effectiveness of an experimental therapy called CTL019 in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia or non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Lasting remission
This treatment is designed using T lymphocytes – a special type of immune cell – genetically engineered to boost the immune system to target and destroy cancer. These modified cells are called CAR T cells. For these two research studies, this treatment is said to be personalized. The researchers took their own T lymphocytes from each patient, modified them and then injected them back into the patients.
In the first study, Prof. Stephen Grupp’s team treated 59 children and young adults suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia resistant to standard treatments, or relapsing. Among them, 55 patients went into remission. After one year of follow-up, more than half of the patients had not relapsed.
“Thanks to each patient treated in this trial, we are learning more about the therapeutic potential of CTL019 in patients with resistant cancers,” explains Stephan Grupp, professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania, and head of the work. The response and sustainability rates we are seeing are unprecedented. This gives us hope that personalized cell therapies will be powerful long-term strategies to control the most aggressive cancers. “
A track for the future
In the second study, the researchers treated 38 patients, on average 56 years old, with resistant or refractory non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. These patients no longer responded to conventional treatments, including bone marrow transplants. Masi thanks to this experimental therapy, the remission was total for 14 patients.
For Stephen Schuster, the researcher who led this clinical trial, “these preliminary results highlight the future role of personalized cell therapies in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma”
At the beginning of November, we reported the case of an 11 month old girl with very aggressive leukemia who went into remission thanks to this experimental therapy. It was called UCART19 and was designed by the French start-up Cellectis. The little British girl was the first patient to benefit from this innovative treatment.
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