New CRISPR therapy gives hope for tough-to-treat T-cell leukemia
A new study shows that a CRISPR-based treatment helped kids and young people with stubborn T-cell leukemia go into remission—even when other treatments had failed.
Scientists at University College London and Great Ormond Street Hospital used a technique called base editing to tweak donor immune cells, making them better at fighting cancer.
How does it work?
Base editing lets researchers swap out tiny pieces of DNA without breaking the strand, so they can make super-precise changes.
In this study, donor T cells were edited to avoid attacking themselves or the patient, resist certain drugs, and target cancer cells more effectively.
What happened in the trial?
All 11 patients (mostly children) went into remission within a month.
Four weeks in, most had no signs of disease left, and over half stayed cancer-free for up to three years after getting a stem cell transplant.
There were some expected side effects like fevers and rashes—plus some serious viral infections—but overall, these results feel like a big step forward for tough cases of leukemia.