The first patient has successfully received a new form of treatment for leukaemia. As reported by BBC News, the 28-year-old patient diagnosed with B-cell lymphoblastic leukaemia (B-cell ALL) received what is being called a ‘living drug’, which is heralded as an innovative new approach to managing blood cancer.
The treatment is known as CAR T-cell therapy. It is a form of immunotherapy that is made from the patient’s own T cells – which are the body’s primary killer of infected or diseased cells. Blood samples are sent to the laboratory where they are genetically engineered to produce special proteins on the surface, called chimeric antigen receptors (CARs).
Despite being around for almost 10 years, the therapy is now growing rapidly in popularity for managing advanced cases of cancer. It was initially used to treat children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, but its indications are expanding to include adults and different types of cancers. Clinical trials have reported promising results – one showed the elimination of cancer in up to 80% of patients, with no relapse in many after 3 years.
Though development of CAR T-cell therapies has been encouraging for blood cancers, it is lacking in the treatment of solid tumours. Further funding and evaluation are crucial to maintain momentum in the field.
There are several interesting fields of study in the cancer research sector. Another is that the science of antidepressants is being used to explore a possible new cancer cure. Research published in 2025 looked at how antidepressants interact with specific proteins and postulated that cancer drugs could be developed to replicate these mechanisms for more targeted treatment. There have also been breakthroughs in the treatment of breast cancer, enhancing our understanding of how the breast cancer cells spread. More can be read about all the most exciting developments in the area from the past year on the Worldwide Cancer Research website.
While there is still some way to go before we can cure all cancers, it is truly astounding how far science has come.
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