British doctors have defended the effectiveness of a treatment for a deadly type of leukaemia, the most common type of cancer in children, after the first patient it was treated was cured.
Alyssa, 13, was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2021. This disease did not interact with the conventional treatments she received, including chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant.
The teenager was part of a clinical trial being conducted at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, for a new treatment using immune cells genetically engineered from a healthy volunteer.
Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, London
Within 28 days, he was stable enough to undergo a second bone marrow transplant to restore his immune system, the researchers explained at the American Society of Hematology’s annual meeting over the weekend.
After 6 months, Alyssa’s condition improved and she returned to her home in Leicester, central England with a medical checkup.
And the hospital indicated in a statement Sunday that “the only option Alyssa would have had were it not for her experimental treatment, was palliative care.”
Lymphocytic leukemia affects cells of the immune system and T and B lymphocytes that resist viruses and protect the body from them.
The hospital said Alyssa was the first patient whose name was announced to receive the modified T cells. The treatment involves the chemical conversion of the letters of the DNA code.
Researchers from the hospital and others at University College London helped develop the use of modified T cells to treat B-cell leukemia in 2015.
However, T cells designed to fight cancer cells ended up killing each other in the manufacturing process, prompting scientists to consider alternative solutions.
And the expert on immune-related diseases, Wassim Qassem, believed that what was recorded represents “extraordinary evidence of the way we can connect with specialized teams and infrastructures, between advanced technologies in the laboratory and tangible results in the hospital”.
He added that this “paves the way for other new treatments and ultimately a better future for sick children.”
And Alyssa confirmed in a statement that she underwent the experimental treatment for her sake and for the sake of all sick children.
“I hope this proves to be a successful treatment and becomes available to more children,” said his mother, Keona.
