POST-PRESS: Gene-Modified T-Cells Win Over Leukemia

The prospect is very good for the newly gene-modified T-cells that has so far fully stopped chronic lymphocytic luekemia (CLL) in two volunteers. The remission has continued for already a year since the treatment. We hope that longer remissions will be observed in this new method of gene therapy.

Carl June, a gene therapy expert at the University of Pennsylvania, has some much reason to celebrate in the recent albeit small victory in the fight against cancer using a new gene modification technique performed on T-cells. The new method uses a carrier that delivers the new genes to the T-cells. The new genes are designed to begin dictating T-cells to kill cancer cells and multiply. A regiment of mercenary T-cells get reproduced, specifically attacking leukemic cells and eradicating them all. All it takes are three infusions of genetically engineered T-cells.

The only drawback so far is the reengineered T-cells' nonspecific targeting of other immune-active blood cells. Still two successful treatments are far better than none at all. [Read more]

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Deadly X-Gene Mutants

A RECENT study on macrophages (i.e. defensive cells in our body that engulf threatening substances inside our body) introduced me to a lethal, genetic disease that targets the male population. This disease is called Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), named after the French neurologist Guillaume Benjamin Amand Duchenne, who described it in 1861. While it has an incidence of one in 3,500 newborn males, health experts consider this as the most common lethal disease of childhood around the world. Mutation in the male (X) chromosome [dystrophin gene, locus Xp21] causes a rapid degeneration of the muscles, leading into an eventual loss of walking ability and then death. While females do not exhibit symptoms, they can be carriers of these defective genes, especially if the father had this condition or the mother is also a carrier. Symptoms usually appear before age five; at times visible in early infancy. These symptoms involve... ( Read more .) This article appears in Sun-Star Ce...

Death By Heat Stroke in the Philippines

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