BANGKOK, 24 April 2019 (NNT) – The Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University (CU), Chulalongkorn Hospital, Thai Red Cross Society and Thailand Center of Excellence for Life Sciences, Ministry of Science and Technology, have succeeded in the treatment of leukemia patients with killer cells.
Dr. Koramit Suphaphiphat, who leads the immunotherapy research team of the Faculty of Medicine, CU, explained that a natural killer cell is a type of white blood cell. There are approximately 5-10 percent of white blood cells in the body. They patrol and detect irregular cells. If irregular cells are found, the “natural killer cells” will destroy them before they cause harm to the body or develop into cancer. The “natural killer cells” are usually very rare in the blood. To be used in the treatment of patients, we need to stimulate them and increase their number first to achieve the highly efficient “natural killer cell” for the patients.
Currently, there are five patients participating in the project. They have acute leukemia of Myeloid type. The five patients are being treated with “natural killer cells” from donors. The research team has succeeded in stimulating and increasing the number of “natural killer cells” for treating the patients. One of the five patients who received “natural killer cells” has stopped the treatment for one year. No signs of symptoms of recurrence have been noted. The research team is monitoring the symptoms of the other four patients.
In the next step, the research team will continue the project to study and enhance the efficacy of high risk leukemia treatment with “natural killer cells” because the “natural killer cells” can treat only certain types of cancer.
