About one year ago, a promising form of cancer treatment suffered a serious setback. The treatment is a type of immunotherapyA treatment for a disease (including cancer) that involves the modulation of the immune system. Treatments include the administration of cytokines (proteins produced by cells of the immune system) and vaccinations. that uses a cancer patient’s own white blood cells to fight the cancer. This is done by adding a geneA stretch of DNA that leads to the production of an RNA. The RNA is produced during the process of transcription. This RNA can be used to guide the formation of a protein via translation or can be used directly in the cell. to the patient’s white blood cells that allows those cells to recognize and kill the cancer cells. This type of therapy is promising because it is specific to the patient and cancer. However, in this case, the treatment backfired, causing the patient to die just 9 months after a brief remissionA period of time in which the symptoms and signs of cancer are decreased or absent. Remission can be spontaneous or brought about by treatments. This may be of varying duration and does not necessarily indicate that a patient is cured..
According to a research report about the case, one of the patient’s cancer cells had been accidentally changed along with his white blood cells. This made that cancer cell “invisible” to the white blood cells, allowing it to survive and reproduce. Although this outcome is extremely rare (the only one of its kind) it shows a potential risk of this treatment approach. The results also showed that a single cancer cell, if unstopped, is enough to lead to the death of a patient.
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