An experimental treatment in which researchers reengineer a
patient's own immune system to attack cancer cells seems to have
worked in a 7-year old girl named Emma Whitehead. The acute
lymphoblastic leukemia that almost claimed Whitehead's life is
now in remission. Whitehead received the treatment, called
T-cell immunotherapy, in April. First doctors drew Whitehead's
blood, separated out white blood cells called T-cells, and then,
using a disabled AIDS virus to transmit genetic material, made
the T-cells capable of identifying and attacking leukemia cells.
Finally, the genetically modified T-cells were transfused back
into Whitehead, where they went to work wiping out her leukemia
to below the level of detection, a process that can itself be
deadly. "This is just one example now of several examples where
people can now use immune cells recognizing cancer to reject,
and in some cases it's been well shown for 10 years now, that
they can cure certain types of cancer with this approach," says
Dr. James Yang, a se