Cancer. This word can inspire fear in even the most stalwart of individuals. How many other diseases are known by a phrase involving just the first letter? The Big C. Doctors have been trying to cure, treat, and mitigate this disease since it was first identified approximately 5,000 years ago (though the word cancer wasn’t coined until about 2,400 years ago).
Radiation, drug therapies, chemotherapy, combination therapy, and surgery have all been used to fight cancer just since 1900. However, many cancers, including multiple myeloma, do not have a cure. Therefore, scientists are continuing to research new ways to combat these deadly diseases. One of the newest treatments, gene therapy, is showing some pretty amazing results.
Earlier this year, cancer researchers gathered in Chicago to discuss cancer treatments. One of the hits of the conference was a new multiple myeloma treatment that recently came out of the first clinical trial on human patients. It’s called Chimeric Antigen Receptor-T (CAR-T) therapy.
This revolutionary treatment option is individualized for each person based on their own blood. Certain immune cells, specifically T-cells, are removed from the blood stream before being filtered. After filtration, the cells are reprogrammed to start targeting cancer and reproducing more T-cells to fight the plasma cells causing multiple myeloma.
Multiple myeloma is a rare form of cancer that manifests in the plasma cells of the blood stream. The number of cases being diagnosed is growing every year. It is estimated that more than 30,000 cases will be diagnosed this year alone. Multiple myeloma is also fast moving, with the five-year survival rate at just over 50 percent.
The clinical trial was conducted in China with 35 multiple myeloma patients. Over the course of the first two months of the trial, 33 of the patients experienced positive reactions to the treatment. Moreover, 19 experienced some degree of remission by the conclusion of the trial. As with any cancer treatment, longevity is a principle concern, so researchers are still following these individuals.
Researchers in the United States hope to have a clinical trial for the CAR-T therapy in place sometime in 2018.
