Leukemia Patient Cancer-Free After T-Cell Therapy

A 23-year-old woman appears to be free of leukemia following T-cell therapy.

Lynsie Conradi of Bellingham, Wash., had been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer that is generally highly treatable and curable. For a small percentage of patients, however, the disease is refractory to treatment and is fatal. Conradi's leukemia had relapsed twice.

Cancer trial at Seattle Children’s Hospital

She, therefore, entered a cellular immunotherapy Phase 1 cancer trial at Seattle Children’s Hospital. The trial is recruiting patients between 18 and 26 years of age with acute lymphoblastic leukemia that is refractory to treatment and who are believed to have a 20 percent chance of survival.

The trial involves taking a blood sample from the patient, reprogramming the infection-fighting T-cells to seek and destroy leukemia cells according to cell surface antigens, and then returning the blood to the patient's body.

"Results show that Lynsie has had a positive response to the T-cell therapy and, at this time, we do not detect any leukemia cells," said the trial's principal investigator.

Conradi's therapy is not finished, though. Now she must undergo a stem cell transplant, which will function as a sort of consolidation therapy to wipe her body entirely clean of any excess leukemia cells.

For information on the Phase 1 trial, call Seattle Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at 206-987-2106 or toll-free at 866-987-2000.

Source: Seattle Children's