From NY Times: To perform the treatment, doctors remove millions
of the patient’s T-cells — a type of white blood cell — and
insert new genes that enable the T-cells to kill cancer cells.
The technique employs a disabled form of H.I.V. because it is
very good at carrying genetic material into T-cells. The new
genes program the T-cells to attack B-cells, a normal part of
the immune system that turn malignant in leukemia. The altered
T-cells — called chimeric antigen receptor cells — are then
dripped back into the patient’s veins, and if all goes well they
multiply and start destroying the cancer. The T-cells home in on
a protein called CD-19 that is found on the surface of most
B-cells, whether they are healthy or malignant. I can’t help but
think this is one of those major events in which we’ll look back
and see it as a turning point in medicine. This stuff is at it’s
infancy but when you think about it, we’re turning a deadly
virus into a cure for a deadly disease. Science FTW! Alzheimer’s
a metabolic diseas