A Reason for Optimism: Cancer-Fighting Cells Engineered Inside Patients’ Bodies Rather Than Laboratory for the First Time | A Story Worth Sharing

A Reason for Optimism: Cancer-Fighting Cells Engineered Inside Patients’ Bodies Rather Than Laboratory for the First Time | A Story Worth Sharing

Why this story matters: Not all news is bad news. This story highlights the kind of progress that often goes unnoticed. Quick summary: This story highlights recent developments related to health, showing how constructive action can lead to meaningful results. Histopathological image of multiple myoloma – credit, CC 3.0. via Wikimedia Commons In a pair of groundbreaking studies, scientists replicated a time-consuming, laboratory-based, cancer therapy within myeloma patients’ own bodies. If standardized, such an advancement would allow for one of the most successful non-chemo cancer treatments to be done both faster and cheaper. CAR T-cell therapy involves retrieving a patient’s immune system component called a T-cell and using a virus to genetically add the CAR, or chimeric antigen receptor, to it. This process is done in a lab—typically outside the hospital where the patient is being treated—before the cells are shipped back for transplant. Would you like to read more good news about Health …