Oncology due to HIV. Treating cancer with HIV? Lesions of the gastrointestinal tract

His name is AIDS Vyacheslav Zalmanovich Tarantul

Cancer is a product of AIDS

Cancer is a product of AIDS

The causes of all the above-described diseases accompanying AIDS are more or less clear: the immune system is impaired and all pathogenic microorganisms around us multiply freely in a sick body; The shield has disappeared - and numerous, previously hidden enemies are now triumphant! After all, it is known: leonem mortuum etiam catuli mordent (even puppies bite a dead lion). The situation is more complicated with another type of concomitant disease, which is no less terrible than AIDS - cancer.

Almost immediately after the first diagnosis of AIDS, it became clear that this disease is closely associated with the development of certain types of malignant transformations. Further statistics showed that quite often people infected with HIV get cancer. It also became clear that HIV provokes its appearance. True, not all of the numerous types of cancer known today affect AIDS patients, but only some of them. These, called indicator tumors, characteristic of AIDS, include primarily Kaposi's sarcoma (affects the skin and internal organs) and primary non-Hodgkin's lymphomas of the brain or other localization. They can even be considered as a diagnostic sign: if a patient has them, then this most likely indicates the presence of HIV. Before we talk about these cancers, let's make one more small digression.

A little history

The problem of cancer has plagued humanity since time immemorial. The legend connects the appearance of the word “cancer” to denote a certain group of diseases with the ancient ideas about the cause of this pathology: when a person drinks water from a river, the pathogen enters his body and then eats it away from the inside (Latin cancer - river crayfish). For a long time, it remained unclear what causes cancer to develop. In 1910, I. I. Mechnikov was one of the first to suggest that there are two causes of malignant degeneration, “one of which is in the body itself, but the other enters it in the form of an exogenous source, most likely a virus.” That some cancers in animals are caused by viruses became apparent a year later when Routh showed that the virus that would later be named after him, Rous' sarcoma virus, caused a form of cancer, sarcoma, in chickens. Many years passed until Routh received the Nobel Prize for his epoch-making discovery (1966). The main thing is that he lived to see it. After Routh's discovery, rabbit papillomavirus (R. Shoup, 1932) and mouse mammary gland tumor virus (J. Bitner, 1936) were isolated. Thus, it gradually became clear that at least some viruses could cause cancer. In the mid-40s. last century, the famous Soviet microbiologist L. Zilbert proposed a virogenetic theory of cancer, according to which “the role of the virus in the development of the tumor process is that it changes the hereditary properties of the cell, turning it from normal to tumor, and the tumor cell thus formed serves as a source of growth tumors; the virus that caused this transformation is either eliminated from the tumor due to the fact that the changed cell is an unsuitable environment for its development, or loses its pathogenicity and therefore cannot be detected during further tumor growth.”

Since then, using various viruses, hundreds of types of tumors have been reproduced in animals. However, the role of viruses as one of the main causes of certain forms of cancer in humans was finally confirmed only in the mid-70s - early 80s. The main evidence for the integration of viral and cellular genomes was the discovery of reverse transcriptase by G. Temin and D. Baltimore, the experiments of Renato Dulbecco in identifying viral DNA as an integral part of cellular DNA in tumors, and the establishment by D. Bishop and G. Varmus of the fact that special genes (oncogenes ), contained in some viruses, are cellular genes that viruses pick up from higher organisms during reproduction in cells. All these scientists subsequently became Nobel laureates in physiology and medicine (R. Dulbecco, H. Temin and D. Daltimore in 1975, and D. Bishop and G. Varmus in 1989).

Although it is now clear that not all types of tumors are caused by viruses, the viral nature of a number of them is beyond doubt. Recently, a possible close relationship has been observed even between the malignant degeneration of cells and infection by bacteria. We are talking about the bacterium Helicobacter pulori. According to some researchers, this bacterium, “responsible” for the development of stomach and gastrointestinal cancer, has existed for almost 11 thousand years. According to some scientists, the “longevity” of this bacterium in the human body is determined by the fact that it has a positive effect on the body.

In general, today it is believed that at least 15% of all cancer cases in the world are the result of various chronic infectious diseases. Let us list the main viruses that are currently associated in one way or another with various forms of cancer:

Hepatitis B virus;

Hepatitis C virus;

Human papillomavirus;

Human T-cell leukemia virus;

Epstein-Barr virus;

Human herpesvirus-8;

AIDS virus.

Note that the hepatitis C virus, T-cell leukemia virus and HIV are RNA-containing viruses, while the genetic apparatus of other viruses, like most other living organisms, consists of DNA. This list cannot yet be considered completely exhausted. It cannot be ruled out (and most likely this will be the case) that in the future we will still face the discovery of other DNA and RNA viruses that, as scientists say, have oncogenic potential, i.e., capable of causing cancer. In all cases, currently known viruses do not directly cause cancer in humans, but their very presence makes cells more prone to malignant transformation, or the viruses damage or change the functioning of normal human genes, which leads to an acceleration of this process.

It is now quite clearly established that the main cause of primary liver cancer throughout the world is chronic infection with hepatitis B and C viruses. The presence of a specific enzyme in the hepatitis B virus - DNA polymerase, which has the function of reverse transcriptase, allows us to call it a “hidden” retrovirus. Hepatitis B virus is the most variable DNA virus, which is similar to the highly variable HIV. Doctors attribute about 80% of all cases of liver cancer in the world to the hepatitis B virus. This disease affects about a quarter of a million people every year (especially in several countries in Africa and Asia).

The hepatitis C virus, like the hepatitis B virus, can cause some cancers, such as malignant diseases of the immune system and thyroid gland, but mainly liver cancer. Scientists have called the hepatitis C virus the “silent killer” for its hidden, slowly progressive course, difficulty of detection and virtual lack of self-healing. When infected with the hepatitis C virus, the traditional sequence of changes in the liver is clearly observed: acute viral hepatitis - chronic hepatitis - cirrhosis - liver cancer. It is believed that the mechanism of destructive action of hepatitis C and B viruses is different, although patients do not need to delve into these subtleties. For them, the main thing is the result, and it is disappointing: long-term chronic viral hepatitis, which has already reached the last stage, the stage of liver cirrhosis, is fraught with further development of cancer. The prevalence of hepatitis C is extremely high, especially among drug addicts and people who have undergone blood transfusions.

Another virus, the human papillomavirus, is considered one of the main causes of cervical cancer, as well as some other types of mucosal and skin cancer. Infection with this virus is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases and is estimated to cause cancer in over 10% of women.

Another oncogenic virus, human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I, infects T lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell that is part of the body's immune system) and causes some T-cell lymphomas. However, the incidence of such virus-related lymphomas in the general population is low.

With the discovery of HIV, it also began to be considered as one of the causes of cancer.

Long-term observations by doctors have revealed a clear relationship between HIV infection and certain types of malignant diseases. The most common types of cancer in HIV-infected patients are shown in Fig. 25. Their frequency in HIV carriers increases tens and thousands of times compared to the frequency of such diseases among uninfected people. Even at the beginning of the epidemic, it was noted that an increase in HIV infection leads to an increase in the incidence of cancers such as lymphoma and Kaposi's sarcoma. Kaposi's sarcoma got its name from the Austrian M. Kaposi, who described it for the first time in 1874. For many years, this disease was considered to be extremely rare. Kaposi's sarcoma was mainly found in elderly men living in the Mediterranean and Central Africa. After some time, it became clear that the increased incidence of this disease is closely related to immune deficiency. After the start of the HIV epidemic, this was finally confirmed. Starting from the first years of the epidemic, Kaposi's sarcoma began to be considered as one of the main indicators of the presence of HIV and began to be classified as an AIDS-associated disease. It is believed that it is not HIV that plays an important role in the development of this pathology, but other viruses, in particular one of the herpes viruses, called human herpes virus type 8 (HHV8). The growth of sarcoma causes large lesions located on the face, which greatly disfigures the person, and those located on the legs or in the joint area limit physical activity. But Kaposi's sarcoma itself rarely causes death in HIV-infected people. Initially, Kaposi's sarcoma occurred in almost a third of HIV-positive people. But then the incidence of Kaposi's sarcoma in people with HIV decreased significantly, and this decrease coincided with the widespread use of highly active antiretroviral therapy for gay/bisexual people to treat HIV infection (this therapy and its successes will be discussed later).

Rice. 25. Some malignant diseases are constant companions of HIV infection. The occurrence of some of them (lymphoma, Kaposi's sarcoma) serves as an indication to doctors that the patient may have HIV infection. In parentheses in the figure it is indicated how many times more often the corresponding malignant diseases develop in HIV-positive people compared to the population of uninfected people

Another oncological disease that is closely related to AIDS (i.e., is an indicator) is lymphoma, especially some of its varieties, the so-called non-Hodgkin lymphomas and primary lymphomas of the central nervous system (Fig. 25). Lymphoma is the second most common tumor after Kaposi's sarcoma in patients with HIV infection. Typically, this type of tumor occurs in later stages of the disease. Approximately 12–16% of AIDS patients die from lymphoma. Unlike Kaposi's sarcoma, lymphoma is not associated with any specific risk group. The prevalence of lymphomas in HIV-infected patients is estimated to range from 3 to 12%, which is approximately 100–200 times more common than in the general population. And one form of lymphoma, called Burkitt's lymphoma, occurs 1,000 to 2,000 times more often in HIV-infected people than in uninfected people. Symptoms of lymphomas are fever, sweating, weight loss, damage to the central nervous system, accompanied by epileptic seizures. Unlike Kaposi's sarcoma, lymphomas usually kill patients within one year of their onset.

As HIV infection progresses and spreads across different populations, other types of cancer begin to appear with increasing frequency. In addition to the two “main” types of cancer usually diagnosed in immunocompromised patients, malignancies such as small cell lung carcinoma, colon adenocarcinoma, testicular seminoma, and even basal cell carcinoma, the most common form of skin cancer in HIV-infected people, have begun to be discovered. There are also reports of an increase in the incidence of cervical cancer and melanoma in patients with HIV infection. In AIDS, cervical cancer, most likely associated with infection with the human papillomavirus, has become one of the significant causes of death in infected women.

The real mechanisms of malignant transformation under the influence of HIV still remain unknown. There is only a general understanding of the relationship between the development of cancer and the suppression of the normal function of the immune system by the virus. But perhaps individual HIV proteins also purposefully interfere with this process. In particular, transgenic animal models have shown that some HIV genes encode proteins with oncogenic potential. Transgenic are organisms in which all cells contain some additional gene, artificially introduced by scientists. Today there is a lot of talk and debate around transgenic products, i.e. food products obtained from transgenic organisms. But this is a special question. Molecular geneticists use transgenic animals for completely different purposes. By transferring individual HIV genes into the genetic apparatus of mice and analyzing the health status of transgenic animals, scientists can draw certain conclusions about their independent function in the body. Based on such experiments, it was concluded that one of the causes of cancer in HIV-infected people is a protein encoded by a viral regulatory gene called tat (already discussed above). This protein regulates the functioning of not only viral genes. It actively interferes with the metabolism of cells, not only those infected with the virus, but also those sometimes located at a fairly large distance from them. By disrupting the normal metabolism in the cell, it can itself cause malignant degeneration. These are the most likely causes of cancer development in HIV-infected patients.

Nervous system damage

Immune deficiency resulting from HIV infection is usually accompanied by the development of a number of concomitant pathologies: neuropathy, enteropathy, nephropathy, myopathy, impaired hematopoiesis, and tumor formation.

It has already been noted that HIV often affects the brain, and to the same extent as the immune system. Between one third and half of its victims suffer from various severe neurological diseases. Damage to brain tissue varies from minor changes to severe progressive ones. Since 1987, nervous system disorders have been officially recognized as another symptom of AIDS.

Neurological, and then mental disorders, are such formidable companions of AIDS that in these cases there is no need for an “army of hired killers,” i.e., causative agents of secondary infections. The virus itself has the ability to infect cells of the central nervous system, and the pathogen does this so skillfully and often that the brain form of AIDS can be safely placed in second place in terms of frequency. However, AIDS-associated infections may also play an important role in neurodevelopmental disorders in HIV-infected people. Most often, the pathological process is determined by infections such as cryptococci, toxoplasma, candida, cytomegalovirus, and tuberculosis complex bacteria.

Neurological lesions may be associated in some cases with disorders of the brain, in others - of the spinal cord, in others - of the membranes, and in others - of peripheral nerves and roots. Symptoms of the pathology depend on the location of the lesion. Neoplasms, such as, for example, primary lymphoma of the central nervous system, also make a certain contribution to the pathology of the nervous system.

Neurological patients are usually bothered by headaches, anxiety with depression, imbalance, decreased visual acuity, and memory impairment. They, as a rule, lose orientation in time and space, lose the ability to contact the external environment, and ultimately often die in a state of complete insanity and personality disintegration. In particular, the so-called AIDS dementia syndrome, which develops in approximately a quarter of patients affected by the virus, is considered one of the diagnostic signs of HIV infection. The name of this pathology comes from the word dementia - that is, a progressive decline in intelligence. At the same time, attention is impaired, memory deteriorates, and a manic state gradually develops. In a number of its symptoms, this syndrome resembles Parkinson's disease. Another neurological pathology often found in HIV-infected people is serous meningitis. Its typical syndromes are headache, photophobia.

For a long time, the cause of damage to the nervous system during HIV infection remained unclear. It was recently discovered that this effect may be due to HIV proteins. At least one of them (the already mentioned gp120 envelope protein), when acting on neurons, triggers the process of apoptosis in them, i.e., a special mechanism of cell death.

Lesions of the gastrointestinal tract

Another weak point in HIV infection is the gastrointestinal tract. It is constantly involved in the pathological process caused by HIV and can be affected at various stages of the disease. This is due to the fact that some cells of the gastrointestinal tract serve as a target for the virus. HIV is found in various cells not only of the rectal mucosa, especially in homosexuals, but also in all parts of the intestine, even in cells that do not have CD4 receptors. Obviously, the penetration of the virus into tissue occurs through intercellular exchange. The virus itself causes degenerative changes in the crypts and microvilli of the intestine, as a result of which parietal digestion and absorption of useful products are disrupted. Not only a purely structural disturbance of the intestinal wall occurs, but also a decrease in its stability (resistance) and the development of dysbiosis. The nature of the lesion can be either diffuse or local in the form of inflammation of different parts of the gastrointestinal tract: oral mucosa (stomatitis), esophagus (esophagitis), duodenum (duodenitis), small intestine (enteritis), colon (colitis), rectum intestines (proctitis), etc. One of the most characteristic clinical manifestations of damage to the gastrointestinal tract during HIV infection is diarrhea (in everyday life - diarrhea), which is observed in 70% of patients.

Lung cancer is the most common malignant tumor and the leading cause of death from malignant tumors among men in the general population. In women, the incidence of lung cancer is also increasing, and among the causes of death in women from malignant tumors it already ranks third.

People living with HIV appear to have a higher risk of developing lung cancer. Data from studies recently conducted in France show that the share of lung cancer in the overall mortality structure of HIV-infected people is 5% and it leads to death more often than Kaposi's sarcoma.

The increased risk of developing lung cancer can, at least in part, be explained by simple reasons: first, HIV-infected patients now live longer, which gives them plenty of time to develop lung cancer, and second, HIV-infected patients smoke much more heavily. than HIV-uninfected patients. According to some clinics for HIV-infected people, the proportion of smokers among HIV-infected people is up to 60–70%. Therefore, when working with HIV-infected people, it is necessary to discuss the problem of smoking and convince them that the time has come to quit smoking, as well as offer the necessary assistance in this difficult matter.

In addition to age and smoking, there are other factors that increase the risk of lung cancer. This is confirmed by the fact that of all types of lung cancer in HIV-infected patients, adenocarcinoma is most often found, the occurrence of which is least associated with nicotine consumption. Since often affected patients do not have immunodeficiency, other predisposing factors are suspected, including specific pulmonary infections with subsequent scarring of the lung tissue.

In addition, HIV-infected individuals often exhibit increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines in the lungs or decreased glutathione levels. These factors may increase lung damage caused by smoking.

In general, HIV-infected patients appear to be more susceptible to carcinogenesis.

From a clinical diagnostic point of view, patients are always more likely to recover if lung cancer is diagnosed at an early stage.

Clinical manifestations are nonspecific and by the time they occur it is usually very late. In HIV-infected patients, lung cancer is rarely diagnosed at an early stage.

When chemotherapy is indicated, HIV-infected patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose condition warrants such treatment should receive standard chemotherapy, starting with cisplatin or carboplatin in combination with either a taxane (paclitaxel), gemcitabine, or navelbine . These combinations are equally effective in HIV-infected people.

However, almost no studies have been conducted on chemotherapy in HIV-infected people. The combination of carboplatin and gemcitabine appears to be well tolerated.

The reserve drug is pemetrexed or erlotinib, which is an inhibitor of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase.

HIV specialists should reassure oncologists not to assume the worst just because a patient is HIV-infected and that HIV infection is not a contraindication to the use of any oncology drug.

In the days when it has even become possible to perform stem cell transplantation (for the treatment of NHL in patients with AIDS), when treating cancer in HIV-infected patients, one should be guided by recommendations for patients not infected with HIV.

In severely ill patients, a combination of gemcitabine and navelbine can be prescribed, which is well tolerated and can short-term stop disease progression.

So I was touched by this vile word CANCER of the uterus I was always afraid of it because there are prerequisites for this, two aunts are sick + I have several numbers of HPV. I’ll start from the beginning because I’m going to describe all my misadventures. HIV and hepatitis for 11 years, but only a year ago my brain fell into place after I began to fall apart (sinusitis, bronchitis, herpes...) and I realized that this shit was going nowhere won’t go away and I need to take care of my health. I started taking Tera 5 months ago now SD-410, VN-neopr. The plans were to deal with hepatitis C and HPV, my body took the therapy with caution; I had a fever, nausea, but most importantly, a month later my stomach hurt. And so how I don’t go to doctors and don’t know who to turn to, I went to an all-knowing therapist, he sent me to a urologist, there were tests, ulcers, kidneys, liver, abdominal cavity again tests, all of course for a fee, a month later he finally gave birth, diagnosed with CESTITIS, prescribed pills, the pain intensified my lower back hurt. And then suddenly I needed to go to a gynecologist (more than one doctor did not advise me to do this). I would like to note that I visit him once every six months at the AIDS center. After the first smear, she said that it was buggy vaginosis and fungus, they started treating me, I went to Once a week, with each visit, she received a new prescription (not a cheap one), new smears, even a test for cancer cells. At the last appointment, I already crawled to her half-bent pain, there was terrible, terrible discharge, etc. all my torment lasted for about 3 months later, she finally sent me for a pelvic ultrasound. There they immediately told me that there was a cystoma of the right ovary, tubes in question and a tumor of the uterus, and they called me a narrow-minded person, it’s my fault that I took so long, they told me to spit on my gynecologist, run straight to the cancer center .And then there’s a new problem: who will accept me there, I’ve been registered in Ekaernburg all my life, but a month ago I sold the apartment, now in the process of buying a new one for health reasons, this whole thing is dragging on (and as you know, without a piece of paper you’re a turd, and it’s unknown how much money will be needed for treatment (over the past 3 months, quite a lot has been spent on urologists and gynecologists, and this is just the beginning. I apologize that this is such a long background, but I want to warn those like me who like to pull the cat in its place) everything must be done quickly and clearly (and I won’t share too much with whom.
And so, first of all, I went to the infectious disease specialist and took all the results on HIV and hepsum (he gave me a terra for 3 months and wished me good luck and said that I wouldn’t be at a loss to call if anything happened, then I visited my gynecologist and thanked her for the treatment (she insistently asked me to write down all the manipulations that she with me, they gave me a referral to the Ankocentr. They accepted me there without a coupon since I was green with fear and pain, I dumped all the papers with diagnoses and tests to the gynecologist, which she quickly read, how she perceived my HIV, I still didn’t understand, she called a couple of doctors also performed a very painful examination (I think they took a biopsy or something like that, I was in a semi-fainting state, so I didn’t ask anything. I sat in a fog, okay, I was smart enough to turn on the microphone to record what she told me, I need registration, fresh tests for an appointment in 10 days, something else about radiation therapy, wrote out a prescription for a pill for bleeding (which is not there) a painkiller after which I was somehow able to move. I passed all the tests, made a temporary registration on October 27th, I will go to the appointment no longer amoeba with the help of painkillers I can at least figure something out. Question:
1. Is temporary registration enough or is registration required? (I understand that you need to find out from the doctor, but there’s no way I’ll stay in another city for a few more days)
2. I heard that for 3 diseases they give a cash payment (there is a catastrophic shortage of them). Is CANCER the 3rd disease?
I don’t know if I’m writing in the right topic or not, if you don’t delete the thread I’ll post a continuation here.

HIV infection affects the human immune system, causing various diseases that the body is not able to resist properly. Because of this, the appearance of any cancer may mean the approach or onset of the extreme stage of the development of HIV - acquired human immunodeficiency syndrome. Such diseases are called AIDS-associated. These include: Kaposi's sarcoma, invasive cancer of the cervix, anal canal, oral cavity, various lymphomas, Hodgkin's disease and malignant melanoma.

Kaposi's sarcoma is a type of cancer closely related to AIDS. It was discovered by the Hungarian dermatologist Moritz Kaposi and named after him. Typically appears as pink or red spots on the skin or in the mouth. May also attack the eyes and appear in internal organs. The prevalence of this disease is low, but Kaposi's sarcoma ranks first among malignant neoplasms affecting patients with HIV infection, reaching figures of 40-60%. Previously, this type of cancer was found primarily in older people of Mediterranean or Jewish origin, as well as organ transplant patients and young people from Africa. In 1983, Kaposi's sarcoma was diagnosed in Rock Hudson, a popular actor in American family films in the 50s and 60s of the last century. The examination confirmed that he had AIDS. He died in his sleep in 1985. Unfortunately, only after the death of such a famous actor did the media begin to openly discuss the topic of HIV.

In a number of progressive countries, 4 out of 10 AIDS patients were previously diagnosed with the development of cancer. Now, with the development of antiretroviral drugs, these indicators are significantly better. This was also achieved through the promotion of a healthy lifestyle, since smoking increases the chance of developing cancer.

Very often, patients with oncology cannot complete the full course of chemotherapy without causing enormous damage to their body. Thus, the problem with treating cancer in HIV-positive people is that their body is already weakened, and because of this, even more serious side effects may occur. The introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy reduces some types of cancer in those infected and helps increase life expectancy, allowing such people to complete a full course of chemotherapy.

For HIV-positive women, cervical cancer is a particular danger, which must be detected and treated early. But here it is important to significantly reduce the viral load for surgical intervention, since traditional treatment methods for infected women are practically of no help.

Is there any way to minimize the risk of cancer in HIV-positive people? To begin with, you must always and constantly take antiretroviral therapy prescribed by your doctor. In addition, experts advise adhering to a healthy lifestyle, as this will help you better control HIV and at the same time reduce the risk of cancer. It is also necessary to give up all bad habits, especially smoking - this is the most important step in protecting against tumors.

Although the direct connection between the human immunodeficiency virus and cancer has not been fully established, tumors develop faster against the background of weakened immunity. It is also worth remembering that cancer treatment for HIV is much more difficult. Chemotherapy for people with AIDS is very difficult because the bone marrow, which produces new blood cells, is affected by the virus.

Doctors at the Cancer Center at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia (USA) have made a real breakthrough in medicine by learning to treat cancer with HIV. Experts conducted research in the field of genetic engineering and were able to reprogram the deadly virus. Thus, in three weeks, HIV cured a girl who had two days to live, reports CBS.

Seven-year-old Emily Whitehead from New Jersey battled lymphoblastic leukemia for two years. Doctors prescribed her radiation and chemotherapy sessions, but there were no visible results. In the end, the girl felt a little better, but right before the difficult operation for a bone marrow transplant, she had a relapse. Then the doctors put an end to the possibility of recovery. Emily had only days left before her organs would fail.

Then the parents moved the girl to the children's hospital in Philadelphia, which is famous for one of the best cancer centers in the United States. The center's director, Stefan Grup, offered the parents an experimental but promising treatment called CTL019 therapy.

The essence of the method is that scientists modify the HIV virus. Its genetic code is altered so that the infected T cell attacks cancerous tissue while sparing healthy tissue. Healthy lymphocytes do not participate in the fight at all. Infected T cells recognize cancer cells thanks to a specific protein called CD19. The treatment is incredibly dangerous: infection is accompanied by the final decline of an already weakened immune system, as well as terrible pain. Emily had little chance of surviving the first night after the operation, but without intervention the girl would not have survived two days.

After the introduction of the modified virus, Emily's condition improved in just a few hours. Doctors noted that she began to breathe more smoothly, and her temperature and blood pressure returned to normal. To the surprise of the doctors, after three weeks there was no trace of cancer left. Six months have passed since the completion of the course, which was carried out in April, but there are still no traces of cancer in the baby’s body. Infected T cells protect the body and now this is another advantage of the new treatment method over traditional methods.

An additional 12 patients were treated with CTL019 therapy. Nine of these attempts ended positively. Two other children who took part in the studies also experienced complete remission.

Despite the fact that the cost of treatment is quite high (20 thousand dollars per session), scientists hope that this method will develop, become more accessible and help millions of people who have lost hope. It is likely that over time this procedure will eliminate the need for an expensive bone marrow transplant.

Emily's parents are extremely proud of their brave daughter, who seemed to be less afraid than others and fought her illness to the last. Now the girl leads a normal life - goes to school, plays, which her family is very happy about.