Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) removed T cells from patients’ blood and used CRISPR to remove genes from cells that could affect the immune system’s ability to fight cancer. They then used the virus to arm T cells to attack a protein that is usually found in cancer cells called NY-ESO-1, and then returned the cells back to the patients.
Edward Stadtmauer, research leader, said T-cell therapy, which uses the human immune system to kill tumors, was the biggest breakthrough in the last decade. But even with this technique, patients continue to die of cancer. So the idea came to him – to combine two advanced approaches to make T cells even more powerful.
Researchers report that the successful use of CRISPR does not mean that it can be used to fight cancer. Because one of the patients has since passed away, and the other two have not achieved remission and their disease has progressed. At the same time, the study really showed that the technique is non-toxic for cancer patients.
–
