BBC News Revolutionary gene therapy brings hope of leukaemia cure | BBC News

A revolutionary new gene therapy for an aggressive and previously incurable form on blood cancer has had dramatic results. Two-thirds of patients in a trial of the treatment have gone into what doctors are calling “deep remission”, showing no signs of their previously untreatable leukaemia.

The treatment has been pioneered at Great Ormond Street Hospital and University College Hospital in London. It involves editing the DNA of donor immune cells to make them resistant to chemotherapy and able to target cancer cells.

The same technology has been used to treat other illnesses, including sickle cell disease and may have potential to reverse other forms of cancer.

It’s the latest in a series of recent breakthroughs using new forms of gene therapy to modify DNA. Recent successes have lead to new treatments for Huntingdon’s disease and Hunter syndrome.

Fiona Bruce presents BBC News at Ten reporting by medical editor Fergus Walsh.
A revolutionary new gene therapy for an aggressive and previously incurable form on blood cancer has had dramatic results. Two-thirds of patients in a trial of the treatment have gone into what doctors are calling “deep remission”, showing no signs of their previously untreatable leukaemia.

The treatment has been pioneered at Great Ormond Street Hospital and University College Hospital in London. It involves editing the DNA of donor immune cells, to make them resistant to chemotherapy and able to target cancer cells.

The same technology has been used to treat other illnesses, including sickle cell disease and may have potential with other forms of cancer.

It’s the latest in a series of breakthroughs using different forms of gene therapy to modify DNA. Recent successes have involved treatment of Huntingdon’s disease and Hunter syndrome.

Fiona Bruce presents BBC News at Ten reporting by medical editor Fergus Walsh.

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