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Doctors Save 7-year-old Girl From Leukaemia By Injecting Her With HIV
US
doctors in Philadelphia said they have saved a seven-year-old girl who
was close to dying from leukemia with a pioneering use of an unlikely
ally: a modified form of the HIV virus.
After fighting her
disease with chemotherapy for almost two years and suffering two
relapses, the young girl “faced grim prospects,” doctors at Children’s
Hospital of Philadelphia said.
So in February this year they agreed to take her on in an experimental program that fought fire with fire.
Helped
by a genetically altered HIV virus — stripped of its devastating
properties that cause AIDS — doctors turned the girl’s own immune cells
into a superior force able to rout the “aggressive” leukemia.
The
treatment of Emily Whitehead was one of the very first of its kind and
cannot yet be considered “a magic bullet,” the hospital said. But in
Emily’s case, it apparently worked completely.
First, millions of
the girl’s natural immune system cells were removed. Then the modified
HIV virus was used to carry in a new gene that would boost the immune
cells and help them spot, then attack cancer cells that had previously
been able to sneak in “under the radar,” the hospital said on its
website.
Finally the rebooted immune cells were sent back in to do their work.
“The
researchers have created a guided missile that locks in on and kills B
cells, thereby attacking B-cell leukemia,” the hospital said.
Pediatric
oncologist Stephan Grupp, who cared for the girl, explained Tuesday
that there was never any danger of AIDS during the process.
“The
way we get the new gene into the T cells (immune cells) is by using a
virus. This virus was developed from the HIV virus, however all of the
parts of the HIV virus that can cause disease are removed,” he said in
an email.
“It is impossible to catch HIV or any other infection.
What’s left is the property of the HIV virus that allows it to put new
genes into cells.”
During the treatment, Emily became very ill
and went into the intensive care unit, underlining how risky the
procedure can be. However, drugs that partly block the immune reaction
were administered, without interfering with the anti-leukemia action,
and she recovered, the hospital said.
The result was “complete”
and best of all, the doctors say, the boosted immune shield continues
“to remain in the patient’s body to protect against a recurrence of the
cancer.”
“She has no leukemia in her body for any test that we
can do — even the most sensitive tests,” Grupp told ABC television. “We
need to see that the remission goes on for a couple of years before we
think about whether she is cured or not. It is too soon to say.”
Grupp
said on the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia website that cell
therapies might eventually replace the more costly, painful bone marrow
transplant treatment, a standard last-ditch defense against cancer.
“I’ve
been meeting with families to discuss bone marrow transplant for 20
years,” he said. “In almost every meeting, I say that bone marrow
transplant is very hard and that if we had an alternative for children
at that point in treatment, I would be delighted to put myself out of
business. And for the first time, we’re seeing how that might actually
happen.”
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http://dailypost.com.ng/2012/12/13/doctors-save-7-year-old-girl-leukaemia-injecting-hiv/
