Yuvan Thakkar is 11 years old and suffers from leukemia since 2014. After the failure of conventional cancer treatments, the Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London decided to try CAR-T therapy for the first time.
They removed the child's immune cells and modified them in the laboratory so they can recognize the cancer cells and fight them.
Last hope for Yuvan
This english boy He was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2014. He received chemotherapy and then underwent a bone marrow transplant, but relapsed again.
This type of cancer It affects about 600 people a year, especially children. Most are cured with conventional treatments, but there are 10% relapses.
Therefore, Sapna and Vinay, Yuvan's parents, comment that:
"We tried to maintain hope, since they told us that leukemia in children has a cure rate of 90%, but unfortunately their disease has relapsed."
So they decided to try the new therapy since "It's our last hope."
In Babies and more, Dani is eight years old and needs an urgent bone marrow transplant to treat her rare leukemia Until September 2018, which obtained the European license, CAR-T was only available as part of a clinical research trial with 75 patients who did not respond to other treatments. After a year, the cancer is still remitted.
Two months later, the GOSH hospital, the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital and the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust announced that they would treat children affected by the type of leukemia that Yuvan suffers with CAR-T therapy, marketed by the Novartis pharmaceutical company with Kymriah's name.
Up to 30 children per year are expected to receive this treatment.
What is the new CAR-T therapy?
It is a personalized cancer treatment.
First, the child's blood is drawn. White blood cells are separated and the rest of the blood is returned.
T cells, a special type of immune cell, is sent to a laboratory in the United States, where a harmless virus is used to insert genes into them.
These genes cause T cells to add a hook to their surface, known as the Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR).
- So, these CAR-T cells, programmed to recognize and destroy the patient's cancer cells, multiply in large quantities and then re-transfuse the child.
In Babies and more, he overcame a leukemia thanks to an experimental treatment and his case opens the way to cure cancer with immunotherapyWaiting for results
Yuvan had his immune cells removed in November and the modified T cells were transfused only a few days ago.
Dr. Sara Ghorashian, a consultant in pediatric hematology at GOSH and a doctor from Yuvan, warns that:
"We are very happy to offer patients like Yuvan another chance to heal. Although it will be a while before the result of this powerful new therapy is known. The treatment has shown very promising results in clinical trials and we hope it helps." .
In Babies and more The beautiful photographs of four girls who fought and defeated cancer togetherRoyal Manchester Children's Hospital has also started treating its first patient with personalized immunotherapy and the 11-year-old girl from Liverpool is expected to receive the infusion of her modified CAR-T cells in a few weeks.
Via and photos | Great Ormond Street Hospital
