For the participants in the study, adults with the median age of 50, their T cells were genetically engineered and determined to focus on eradicating cancer. More precisely, the cells modification process involves removing some T cells of the patients and altering them with a gene which recognizes a specific protein of the cancer cells. After this modification, the re-educated T cells are reintroduced in the patient’s blood and they will attack and destroy the tumor cells. This technology was developed during the last 15 years and it’s efficient for the patients with adult B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Actually, after being invented in the US, this method is tested in Europe too. Renier Brentjens, director of cellular therapeutics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and principal author of the new method declared to the media that “this could be a paradigm shift in the way we approach cancer therapy". The principal actual objective of the researchers is to extend the method to other types of cancer. For now, the cost is about $100,000 for every treated patient.
