By Krishna
NEW DELHI: An indigenously developed gene therapy for specific blood cancers has shown a 73 per cent response rate among patients in India, according to results of clinical trials published in The Lancet Haematology journal.
Known as ‘CAR T-cell therapy’, the treatment involves modifying genes in one’s T-cells — a type of immune cells — to help fight cancer. The study looked at patients with leukaemia, which occurs in bone marrow, and lymphoma, which affects the lymphatic system.
Researchers, including those from the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay and Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, said in low and middle-income countries, patients in whom ‘B-cell’ tumours continue to grow following a period of remission (relapse), or do not respond to treatment (refractory), suffer from poor outcomes due to an absence of effective therapies.
