New Discoveries and Honors in Cancer Research

Read the latest cancer research and recognition from the members of the Damon Runyon scientific circle.
February 19, 2014
Success of immunotherapy in treatment of advanced leukemia

Renier J. Brentjens, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘06-‘11) and colleagues at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, reported the success of immunotherapy treatment in adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). This is the largest clinical study conducted thus far; it showed that 88 percent of patients achieved complete remissions after being treated with their own T immune cells, which had been genetically modified to target and attack the cancer cells. The exciting findings were published in the journal Science Translational Medicine and featured in The Wall Street Journal