New Gene Therapy for Cancer Treatment

In a major scientific breakthrough, scientists in the United Kingdom have successfully tested a new form of gene therapy, ‘Base Editing’, for the first time in a patient with T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (T-ALL), a type of blood cancer.

• The researchers used this tool to engineer a new type of T-cell that was capable of hunting down and killing cancerous T-cells.
• In T-ALL, the T-cells, which are a class of white blood cells, equipped to hunt and neutralise threats to the body, turn against the body and end up destroying healthy cells that normally help with immunity.

Base Editing

• The four types ....