NEW THERAPY FOR LEUKAEMIA IDENTIFIED.

Stanford scientists have identified a molecule that can be targeted to cure leukaemia - the most common form of cancer in childhood. The therapy is similar to but distinct from CD-19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, in which a patient's T-cells are genetically modified to target a molecule called Cd-19 on the surface of the cancer cells. This therapy was recently approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of some types of blood cancers, according to study published in the journal Nature Medicine.

The therapy genetically modifies a patient's T-cells to target a different molecule called CD-22, scientists at the Stanford University in the United States said. The approach is helpful because the cancer cells of some patients who undergo CD-19-targeted CAR T-cell therapy stop expressing the CD-19 molecule on their cell surfaces. CAR T-cell therapy relies on a patient's own T cells - a type of immune cell that can be a powerful killing machine.

-Challapalli Srinivas Chakravarthy-

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