Real Hope....But

Today's Science section in the NY Times has a story about the most hopeful treatment I've read yet. Titled "An Immune System Trained to Kill Cancer," it tells of an experiment with just 3 participants, all near death from advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and two of whom are now in total remission for a year. The third received steroids at another hospital, which may have quelled the beneficial effects of the treatment. The results stunned everyone, and researchers are now looking for ways to apply the same treatment to other cancers, including ovarian. The thing that jumped out at me right away, though, is that in the case of this leukemia, killing all of the body's B cells and being able to continue to kill them constitutes a cure. That was possible because these cells are unique. With ovarian cancer, as we know, there are other tissues that could be affected since they arise from the same tissue as the ovaries. I doubt we could survive complete destruction of the peritoneum, for example. Still, if a way could be found to teach the immune system to distinguish ovarian cells from all others (a central problem in cancer research) then this approach might work for us too.

I think the thing that made me the most hopeful was that absolutely no one even imagined a complete remission. It was a phase 1 trial, with volunteers who had no options left, and were hoping to buy maybe a few more months at best. It is so heartening to hear of such a huge accomplishment when none was expected.

Here's the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/13/health/13gene.html?_r=1&ref=science