Gene therapy is a subset in biotechnology and offers ways to treat or even prevent many diseases, “inherited disorders, cancer and viral infections” by altering the genes in a patient’s cells. By doing so, drugs or surgery is not needed. Some possible approaches include replacing the mutated gene, knockout of the mutated gene or inserting a new gene to fight of the mutated one. Until now, gene therapy had been an experimental treatment option since it was risky, and many were not sure whether it was safe or effective. It was previously used as an experimental treatment option for diseases which had no cure. With gene therapy slowly entering the line of treatment options, this could potentially revolutionize treatment methods.
We need to start taking advantage of these treatments.
I feel that this method of treatment is a great way to enter a new era of medicine to treat diseases that were incurable. I've witnessed many people around me pass away from cancer. With this treatment, we can save lives like never before. A stunning 58,300 people are expected to die in the U.S. alone at the end of 2017 from leukemia!
With more advanced treatments like this, we will be able to help people in ways never imagined. If we can implement this type of treatment into every type of cancer we know, we might just be able to get rid of cancer once and for all.
Recently, the FDA approved a treatment known as Kymriah for patients diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia – a type of cancer affecting the white blood cells in bone marrow and the lymphatic system. When patients are diagnosed with leukemia, their body produces abnormal, malignant white blood cells that function improperly. Unfortunately, our body can not detect this harmful cell growth because the carb chains on these cells are the same as our bodies. Carb chains are on the surface of every cell and are used for cell identification by our body’s immune system to determine whether we have a foreign body inside us. Since our body is unable to detect cancer in order to fight it off, there had previously been no cure for it, until now, with Kymriah.
Kymriah is administered to patients as a last resort when drugs have fail. This treatment involves inserting a modified version of the patient’s own immune cells. For all of you science lovers, the modified cells are “genetically modified using a virus” containing chimeric antigen receptor T-cell – also known as CAR-T.
The CAR-T cell therapy works by genetically engineering the T Cells (“workhorses of the immune system) to have receptors known as CARs (chimeric antigen receptors). By doing so, the modified cells can recognize the cancer cells and kill them off. Scientists are hoping they can use gene therapy to treat multiple forms of cancer in the future. I hope to see them in use in local hospitals within the next decade.