Immune cell therapy shows early promise against multiple myeloma

An experimental therapy using a patient's own immune cells has shown early promise in "curing" multiple myeloma patients, U.S. researchers said Wednesday.

Of ten patients who have received the therapy known as CTL019, six remain progression-free, though two patients have only very recently been treated, according to results published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The first patient enrolled in the trial, whose cancer had stopped responding after nine different treatment regimens, remained cancer-free more than 12 months after receiving this therapy.

Researchers said the patient's bone marrow was almost entirely filled by cancerous cells when she entered the study but tests revealed no evidence of disease 130 days later.

"We couldn't be more pleased with this patient's response," said study author Alfred Garfall, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

"We believe her CTL019 cells made the difference, since we would not have expected such a durable remission with a transplant alone."

The CTL019 therapy use a patient's own T cells, which are reprogramed to hunt and potentially kill cancer cells in the patient's body.

Researchers explained that the modified T cells contain a protein known as a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR), which is designed to target the CD19 protein found on the surface of B cells, including the cancerous B cells that characterize several types of leukemia and lymphoma.

The investigational treatment was combined with chemotherapy and an autologous stem cell transplant -- a new strategy designed to target and kill the cells that give rise to myeloma cells. No serious side effects were reported.

Treatment with CTL019 also showed promise in adult patients with advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the most common form of adult leukemia.

In an early clinical trial, eight of 14 patients with advanced CLL responded to the therapy, with some cancer-free for about five years, researchers from the same university reported last week. Endit