DOWNLOAD VIDEO An experimental treatment turns a leukemia patient’s immune system into a cancer-fighting weapon. In the treatment, doctors remove cells that fight infection, called T-cells, from a patient and modify their genes with a deactivated form of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. In this case, the HIV cells are doing good by genetically altering the cells to hunt and kill cancerous cells. Doctors then return the modified T-cells back to the patient’s body, where they multiply and attack the cancer. “A cancer cell has a piece of Velcro stuck on it, but the T-cell doesn’t have the other piece of Velcro to stick together. We’re genetically changing that T-cell to put a new piece of Velcro on the outside, so now it can see, and recognize, and stick to the cancer cell, and start killing it,” Dr. David Porter of the Perelman School of Medicine said. The treatment has been in experimental trials since 2010 and has seen positive responses in a small sample. 90 percent of young patients responded to the treatment, with most still in remission six months after the treatment. 55 percent of adults responded to the treatment, and some have remained in remission for several years afterward. But researchers need to study its effects in a larger sample size and for longer, according to Dr. Carl June of the Perelman School of Medicine. “We’re on the verge where this can happen, but we also need caution,” he said. There are potent side effects. When the genetically modified T-cells re-enter the body and multiply, the immune system releases substances called cytokines in a flood that can cause a fever, drop in blood pressure and other symptoms. In addition, doctors worry that it will be hard to treat large numbers of sick people since each dose must be individualized to the patient’s own immune system. But even as the Food and Drug Administration decides whether to approve this therapy for blood cancers, research and doctors are investigating how similar methods could work on solid tumors such as brain cancer.

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Warm up questions

1. What do you think of when you hear “the war against cancer”?


2. How do researchers test whether a cancer drug or treatment works or not?


3. What are some jobs that help treat people with cancer?

Critical thinking questions

1. Why is it important to be cautious about new cancer treatments?


2. President Richard Nixon declared a war on cancer in 1971. Why do you think it is taking so long to find a cure?


3. If the treatment shows a high success rate, more people will want access to it, but there could be difficulties in making it widely available. How would researchers and hospitals decide who receives the treatment?


4. This trial has shown promising results, but can have difficult side effects. How do patients, families and doctors decide if a treatment is worth the side effects?