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.
