I am reading a book entitled, SONG OF THE CELL by Pulitzer winner, S. Mukherjee, MD. In the book he recounts a trip wire moment in 2012 +- re: infused cell therapy. Emily Whitehead, age 7, had been diagnosed in 2003 with ALL, acute l. leukemia. The girl had first been treated with traditional chemo and it worked at age 3/4. For a while. In 2012, after failing and near dead, she was enrolled in an infusion therapy "trial" where her T cells had been lab collected and weaponized in a lab against her cancer cells. Trial was at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. After the infusion of the directed T cell formula, once again, all seemed to be going well. For a while. Suddenly the child took a turn for the worse. Much worse.
The cause for her downturn to near death status turned out to be a phenomenon all here are familiar with - the cytokine storm. Her IL-6 count was one thousand times higher than normal thanks to the lab infused and rampaging T cells. Consequently, the doc managing the trial assumed the trial was a failure and composed an email proposing the infusion trial termination. Fortunately for the trial, the doc chose to not send the email at that moment in time.
Fate had it that an attending physician at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia who was familiar with arthritic inflammation/conditions and medications and had become aware of a recently developed drug with a potential impact on the inflammation and was able to secure an off-label OK for use of the drug on young Emily. Too make a long story short, the trial was a complete success. Her cancer turned out to be in total remission. She was not dying from cancer. The cytokine storm was killing Emily. She has been cancer free since 2012. Emily was walking within two days of being treated with the off-label medication. What had nearly killed Emily was the cytokine storm not the experimental cancer trial protocol which went on to be a success. The book doesn't mention the drug used that saved Emily's life.
The C storm is everywhere. The cure is under lock and key at the FDA.
The cause for her downturn to near death status turned out to be a phenomenon all here are familiar with - the cytokine storm. Her IL-6 count was one thousand times higher than normal thanks to the lab infused and rampaging T cells. Consequently, the doc managing the trial assumed the trial was a failure and composed an email proposing the infusion trial termination. Fortunately for the trial, the doc chose to not send the email at that moment in time.
Fate had it that an attending physician at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia who was familiar with arthritic inflammation/conditions and medications and had become aware of a recently developed drug with a potential impact on the inflammation and was able to secure an off-label OK for use of the drug on young Emily. Too make a long story short, the trial was a complete success. Her cancer turned out to be in total remission. She was not dying from cancer. The cytokine storm was killing Emily. She has been cancer free since 2012. Emily was walking within two days of being treated with the off-label medication. What had nearly killed Emily was the cytokine storm not the experimental cancer trial protocol which went on to be a success. The book doesn't mention the drug used that saved Emily's life.
The C storm is everywhere. The cure is under lock and key at the FDA.
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