Cell and gene therapy scientists are celebrating an important clinical milestone: A patient diagnosed with a solid tumor cancer benefited from T-cell receptor therapy, according to national media outlets.
Kathy Wilkes, a 71-year-old pancreatic cancer patient living in Florida, endured the gauntlet of surgery, radiation and eight rounds of chemotherapy – with little or no long-term benefit in controlling her disease.
So, she turned to cell and gene therapy – specifically, T-cell receptor therapy or TCR. This type of cell and gene therapy adds an engineered protein receptor to T cells to help them find evidence of cancerous proteins.
The results were remarkable, with the therapy controlling the disease for one whole year.
“I think cancer research is going to build on this,” Carl June, MD, a member of ACGT’s Scientific Advisory Council, said to NBC News. “The real question is not if, but when, this kind of therapy becomes a reality of curing patients with now-lethal cancers.”
Read more about how T-cell receptor therapy works.