Reading Material...Information from NCI (NIH)

Perhaps the most extreme form of experimental immunotherapy is adoptive cell transfer therapy. This treatment strategy, devised by Dr. Rosenberg and his colleagues at the NCI, involves removing the natural tumor-fighting T cells from the patient’s bloodstream, expanding their numbers in culture dishes, and then re-infusing them into the patient. The cells can also be engineered to become better tumor killers while outside the body.

For the re-infused cells to take hold, however, the patient’s own immune system is first wiped out using radiation, which may leave the patient temporarily vulnerable to infection. Dr. Rosenberg is hopeful about the benefits of his protocol. “Half the patients with metastatic melanoma will experience cancer regression with this therapy,” he says.