The first patient in the world to test a new treatment for melanoma is now cancer-free. And the research from MD Anderson at Cooper was just approved by the FDA.
This new therapy for melanoma, a deadly kind of skin cancer, is being called a remarkable success.
“I had no idea that I was going to be the first person in the world to be on this,” Debra Marsdale said.
Marsdale can now see the future after being the first to try a new therapy for metastatic melanoma.
Dr. Young Ki Hong, a surgical oncologist at MD Anderson at Cooper, says her cancer is gone.
“This is a very exciting time for everyone,” Dr. Hong said.
This therapy uses the patient’s own cancerous tumor to remove and revitalize T cells.
“That is essentially comparable to bone marrow transplant but with cancer-fighting T cells,” Dr. Hong said.
Dr. Hong’s research showed that TIL cell therapy, traditionally used when other treatments fail, can be successful as the first line of treatment.
“Under the belief that your body can truly heal itself we just need to help it,” Dr. Hong said.
If this trial is successful we will be able to enroll patients in cell therapy as a first-line treatment and that will give them the highest chance of beating this cancer.
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