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2012 was an exciting year for the Abramson Cancer Center. We are featuring blogs featured on the Focus On Cancer blog that highlight cancer treatment breakthroughs, coping tips and ideas, education and inspiration. Today, we are highlighting the immunotherapy and leukemia.

A front-page story in the New York Times details the progress of a Perelman School of Medicine team in using genetically engineered versions of leukemia patients' own T cells to fight their cancer; an approach which has now been used in 12 patients, 9 of whom responded to the therapy -- including two children.

Immunotherapy for Leukemia

A front-page story in the New York Times details the progress of a Perelman School of Medicine team in using genetically engineered versions of leukemia patients' own T cells to fight their cancer; an approach which has now been used in 12 patients, 9 of whom responded to the therapy -- including two children.

"Our goal is to have a cure, but we can't say that word," said the study's leader, Carl June, MD, the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and director of Translational Research in Penn's Abramson Cancer Center.

He hopes the new treatment will eventually replace bone-marrow transplantation, an even more arduous, risky and expensive procedure that is now the last hope when other treatments fail in leukemia and related diseases.

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A front-page story in the New York Times details the progress of a Perelman School of Medicine team in using genetically engineered versions of leukemia patients' own T cells to fight their cancer; an approach which has now been used in 12 patients, 9 of whom responded to the therapy -- including two children.

"Our goal is to have a cure, but we can't say that word," said the study's leader, Carl June, MD, the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and director of Translational Research in Penn's Abramson Cancer Center.

He hopes the new treatment will eventually replace bone-marrow transplantation, an even more arduous, risky and expensive procedure that is now the last hope when other treatments fail in leukemia and related diseases.

In a cancer treatment breakthrough 20 years in the making, researchers from Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center and Perelman School of Medicine demonstrated sustained remissions of over a year among a small group of patients with advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) treated with genetically engineered versions of their own T cells.

The CAR T Cells clinical trial involves removing the patients’ cells and modifying them in Penn's Cell and Vaccine Production Facility in Philadelphia. Those cells are then infused the back into the patients following chemotherapy, providing a tumor-attack roadmap for the treatment of other cancers including those of the lung and ovaries and myeloma and melanoma.

The CART19 trial is designed for patients with documented CD19 positive leukemia or lymphoma. These include patients with:

• Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)
• Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)
• Follicular lymphoma
• Mantle cell lymphoma
• B cell prolymphocytic leukemia (PLL)
• Diffuse large cell lymphoma

It is important to note that this therapy is very early in testing, and is open to only a small number of participants. Researchers testing any new approaches to cancer treatment must be methodical and meticulous to protect patients and validate findings.

Learn more about the CAR T Cells Trial’s findings or other clinical trials currently enrolling patients at the Abramson Cancer Center or, Oncolink or  www.clinicaltrials.gov. Or call 800-474-9892 to find a clinical trial right for you.

Make an appointment with a Penn Medicine blood cancer specialist.

Learn more about the hematological malignancies (blood cancers) program at the Abramson Cancer Center.