Experimental Treatment Cures Late-Stage Melanoma
June 19, 2008
Boston (ChattahBox) - A new experimental treatment tested by doctors in Seattle has cured a late-stage cancer patient who was suffering from the deadly skin cancer, melanoma.
The treatment used is called adoptive immunotherapy, and is carried out by doctors extracting the patient’s own white blood cells.
Once extracted, the white blood cells are used for breeding in a dish, and then injecting them again into the patient.
Once back in the body, the cells can be used to fight the infection, and have proven to do so quite successfully.
Researchers for the treatment used 5 billion copies of a single immune cell from a man to defeat the cancer.
The cell used was called the CD4 T cell. The 52-year old man could be an example for new treatments to come in the future.
The study has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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