VECR Final Project
Coming into the Fred Hutch community, I didn't know what to expect. I was uneducated on the topic of cancer when entering the Fred Hutch community. As time progressed, I gained an understanding of the rudimentary skills and followed through people's stories in how they handled cancer and fought through that traumatic experience. My highlight during this experience was Dr. Eaton's talk about his journey with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). As Dr. Eaton said, "My body wasn't responding to chemotherapy, my chances of surviving using conventional methods were down to 1%." As a result of Dr. Eaton’s chemotherapy, he chose to go through clinical trials. At first, clinical trials didn't sound too promising, but it was the only option. With clinical trials, outcomes of the new treatments were unpredictable but were promising. Dr. Eaton went through a process of immunotherapy where his T-cells were reprogrammed into CAR-T cells and used his immune system to fight off cancerous cells. CAR-T cell therapy takes the patient’s T-cells and reprograms it by adding in a Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) that will bind to an antigen and kill the cancerous cell. After 27 days of introducing the CAR-T-cells in Dr. Eaton's body, the result came back positive, and the trial was successful. Dr. Eaton returned to work on July 24 and continued with his clinical work and clinical research.
In the Hutch, every day is an opportunity for a new cure. Many teams are hard at work to help rehabilitate patients and in improving the current medications. Dr. Johnnie Orozco wants to expand access to lifesaving leukemia treatments by delivering them with a gentler touch. Acute myeloid leukemia is one of the most common — and aggressive — types of blood cancer that strike adults. The current cure that we have is a bone marrow transplant. But for older patients, this cure can become detrimental to their health. Their bodies can't handle the many rounds of chemotherapy and radiation. Finding a bone marrow donor with a match can be very burdensome. Dr. Orozco is studying how to precisely deliver powerful radioactive particles to AML cells in mice while sparing healthy cells and tissues. Dr.Orozco will soon attach the isotopes to antibodies in a human's body and will deliver the radioactive particles into diseased cells and promote apoptosis(cell death). The purpose of the research was to find a cure that doesn't require a matched donor for the patients. This type of transplant can help patients whose chances of finding a match can be slim. A bone marrow donor can vary dramatically based on their ethnic background and race. Orozco has collaborated with dozens of researchers. Given the dozens of clinical trials, these investigators have started in the Fred Hutch/University of Washington Cancer Consortium clinics. This research was appealing because of the problem it addresses. AML is common blood cancer, and sometimes bone marrow transplant is not the solution for everyone. With ethnicity and race also being factors, I got interested in what other solutions we could help people with AML.
Citations:
Siegel, J. (2020, July 27). $3.4 million grant to find safer, more effective leukemia treatments. Retrieved August 13, 2020, from https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2020/07/new-haploidentical-transplant-therapies.html
“NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms.” National Cancer Institute, www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/car-t-cell-therapy.
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