T-Cell Therapy Shows Promise Against Solid Tumors

A breakthrough in cancer treatment has been reported by German researchers. A 17-year-old boy who had been diagnosed with kidney cancer at age seven was treated with an experimental therapy that uses T-cells to target and kill cancer cells.

The patient's cancer had returned and spread to multiple organs, including his brain, making him a candidate for the new treatment. The T-cell therapy used in this case targets a protein called PRAME, which is present in the cancer cells.

The results of the treatment were remarkable: after a single infusion of the engineered T-cells, the patient went into complete remission and remained cancer-free over a year later.

This new approach opens up new possibilities for treating solid tumors, which have been difficult to tackle with earlier forms of engineered immune cell therapy. Dr. Christian Seitz, head of the Cell and Gene Therapy Program at Hopp Children's Cancer Center in Heidelberg, is now planning a clinical trial of the treatment with 18 pediatric cancer patients who all have PRAME in their tumors.