How to Cure Cancer: Zelig Eshhar’s Breakthrough

By Shlomo Maital

Eshhar

Prof. Zelig Eshhar

 

   Media reports last week brought exciting news about a new breakthrough in the fight to cure cancer.

       In an article in the journal Science Translational Medicine, a team at the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center and the Perelman School of Medicine reported that 27 out of 29 patients with an advanced blood cancer saw their cancers go into remission or disappear altogether when they received genetically modified T-cells that were equipped with synthetic molecules called chimeric antigen receptors, or CARs. Those T-cells were able to target and destroy the tumor cells – specifically the ones that were responsible for the acute lymphoblastic leukemia the patients were suffering from. According to officials at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where the research was carried out, patients in the trial – some of whom were told in 2013 they had barely a few months to live – not only survived, but now, after the therapy, “have no sign of the disease.”

One of the pioneers of this approach is Prof. Zelig Eshhar, of Israel’s Weizmann Institute. According to press accounts:   “Eshhar has been conducting T-cell research for over a decade, and in 2014 was recognized by leading industry publication Human Gene Therapy for his work, along with Dr. Carl June of the University of Pennsylvania for their work in the field. In an article called “From the Mouse Cage to Human Therapy: A Personal Perspective of the Emergence of T-bodies/Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cells,” published for the occasion, Eshhar laid out the mechanics of CAR T-cell immunotherapy – showing how his work on mice progressed to the point where the American team was able to pick up the cudgel and conduct a study on humans. With that. Eshhar cautioned Wednesday, the breakthrough did not in any way represent a “cure for cancer” – at least not yet. “Obviously much more work is needed,” he said. “One issue with this kind of therapy is that you have to develop specific T-cells for each kind of cancer. But studies like those are a great impetus to move forward with research. I believe the day will come when we will see many more cancers treated in this manner.”

     T-cells are the white blood cells produced by our immune systems that fight invading germs and microbes (and cancer cells). But they are generally too weak to fight off cancer cells, which have several clever defense mechanisms. However, by removing T-cells, and genetically modifying them, they can be strengthened – a bit like taking a Chevrolet Impala and souping it up with a Corvette 400 hp. engine. Eshhar has cured mice of cancer using this method, and the U. of Pennsylvania team extended his method to humans, with success.

     Will such T-cell therapy defeat all cancer, not just a form of leukemia and lymphoma? Let us hope!