One Rogue Cell Genetically Altered By Revolutionary Cancer Therapy Can Spiral Out Of Control And Cause Relapse
As immunotherapy is being used more frequently, dangerous side effects are coming to light, like in the surprising case of one young man fighting leukemia. Meanwhile, despite the hundreds of scientists who have contributed to developing the revolutionary treatment, only two were awarded the Nobel prize for medicine. Stat looks at why that is.
The New York Times:
Breakthrough Leukemia Treatment Backfires In A Rare Case
A highly unusual death has exposed a weak spot in a groundbreaking cancer treatment: One rogue cell, genetically altered by the therapy, can spiral out of control in a patient and cause a fatal relapse. The treatment, a form of immunotherapy, genetically engineers a patient’s own white blood cells to fight cancer. Sometimes described as a “living drug,” it has brought lasting remissions to leukemia patients who were on the brink of death. Among them is Emily Whitehead, the first child to receive the treatment, in 2012 when she was 6. (Grady, 10/1)
Stat:
Crucial Contributors To Cancer Immunotherapy Were Excluded From The Nobel
The Nobel committee’s account of discoveries critical to harnessing the immune system to treat cancer lists just under 100 papers authored by hundreds of scientists. But the message that “it takes a village” to move a discovery in basic science out of the lab and into the lives of patients — as 2018 medicine laureates James Allison of MD Anderson Cancer Center and Tasuku Honjo of Kyoto University did in work that led to drugs that sic the body’s immune cells on cancer — is outweighed by one simple number: three. (Begley, 10/1)
In other news related to the field of oncology —
The Associated Press:
Serena Williams Sings, Goes Topless For Breast Cancer Video
Tennis great Serena Williams goes topless and sings "I Touch Myself" in a video to promote breast cancer awareness month. With her hands covering her breasts, Williams writes in the Instagram post that the video took her out of her "comfort zone." But she said she wanted to do it because early detection saves so many lives. (10/1)
ProPublica/The New York Times:
Cancer Center’s Board Chairman Faults Top Doctor Over ‘Crossed Lines’
The chairman of the board of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center bluntly disparaged the hospital’s former chief medical officer on Monday, telling the hospital’s staff that the medical chief had “crossed lines” and had gone “off the reservation” in his outside dealings with health and drug companies. The remarks by Douglas A. Warner III, the chairman of the center’s board of managers and overseers, as well as Dr. Craig B. Thompson, the chief executive, went beyond previous hospital statements about the former chief medical officer, Dr. José Baselga. Until Monday, the hospital had said Dr. Baselga followed internal policies and had mainly just failed to disclose his industry affiliations in some medical journal articles. (Ornstein and Thomas, 10/1)
