tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19102494.post6967085973538465372..comments2023-10-07T07:52:24.587-07:00Comments on CLL Diary: Roads less traveledDavid Arensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13876562687586184006noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19102494.post-82350619280188298892007-01-27T11:36:00.000-07:002007-01-27T11:36:00.000-07:00Phil,
Thanks for the information. That sounds lik...Phil,<br /><br />Thanks for the information. That sounds like a novel and interesting apporoach. (As normal B cells also express CD20, how would the anti-CD20 T cells avoid attacking them as well?)<br /><br />I know there are some other places where the same basic concept -- getting T cells to attack the leukemic B cells -- is being worked on. This is a promising area, as yet without many concrete results for patients.<br /><br />These treatments may work better on those with minimal disease, and thus may prove more effective for very early stage patients and for patients whose bulky disease has been reduced by therapy.<br /><br />Hopefully you will be in W&W forever, or at least long enough so that some new avenues in immunotherapy are open to you when the time comes for treatment. I am already in the fight and need to be thinking of my every next move. So HuMax will (I hope) be the next concrete step I can take.<br /><br />I think we are both in agreement that preserving the immune system as much as we can is essential to being able to take advantage of better immunotherapy that comes along. This is one of the big problems I have with carpet bombing my CLL through chemo: it not only burns the bridges we know about, it also burns ones that are being built in places like the Hutch.David Arensonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13876562687586184006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19102494.post-7774043467541360952007-01-26T18:08:00.000-07:002007-01-26T18:08:00.000-07:00David,
I have an interest in immunotherapy resear...David,<br /><br />I have an interest in immunotherapy research and have been keeping in touch with the Hutch on one of their research projects involving utilising engineered T-cells to target B cells expressing CD20. It would be preferable to Humax if they succeed as it will not harm healthy B cells. Here are some notes from an e-mail :<br />We genetically engineer T-cells to express the anti-CC20 receptor. The cells need to be tailor-made for each patient. <br />This trial is an attempt to develop an effective cellular immunotherapy for lymphomas. Rituximab is an anti-CD20 antibody and is the most popular drug for treating lymphomas. However, experts agree that cellular immunotherapy is more important than antibodies in cancer surveillance. We transfect a chimeric T cell receptor into a patient's T cells and give them back to the patient.<br /><br />8 patients entered so far (boutique trial)<br />6 treated to date.<br />Minimal toxicity.<br />Some responses, but too early to assess efficacy in this phase I trial.<br /><br />If I'm going to need treatment one day, I'm hanging in there for this one myself.<br /><br />PhilAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19102494.post-66797846869355781222007-01-22T21:38:00.000-07:002007-01-22T21:38:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com