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New Method of Gene Therapy for Treating Advanced
Melanoma
Brief Description:
Scientists at the National Cancer Institute have found a way to enlist
a cancer patient's own white blood cells, also called "lymphocytes" to
battle melanoma.
Transcript:
SCHMALFELDT: Although it only accounts for about four
percent of all skin cancer cases, melanoma is the most serious and aggressive
form of skin cancer. Now, thanks to research at the National Institutes
of Health, scientists have found a way to enlist a cancer patient's own
white blood cells, also called "lymphocytes" to battle this deadly disease.
According to lead researcher, Dr. Steven A. Rosenberg, scientists at
the National Cancer Institute have found a way to genetically engineer
white blood cells to recognize and attack cancer cells.
ROSENBERG: We can now genetically modify that normal
lymphocyte and put into it what we call "receptors" that now enable that
normal lymphocyte to recognize a cancer. And so basically we take a normal
cell and, by genetic engineering, modify it so that it can go from being
normal — unable to recognize a cancer — into a cell that
can recognize a cancer.
SCHMALFELDT: Dr. Rosenberg said that since researchers have proved this
strategy can be successful, they're testing several methods to improve
its effectiveness. The results of the study were published in the August
31 edition of the journal Science. From the National Institutes of Health,
I'm Bill Schmalfeldt in Bethesda, Maryland. |
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| Date: 09/15/2006 |
Reporter:
Bill Schmalfeldt |
Sound
Bite:
Dr. Steven A. Rosenberg |
Topic:
Cancer |
| Institute(s): NCI |
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