A bioethicist’s take on child cancer treatment that uses gene therapy

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 9:02 am by CNA Daily News

A bioethicist’s take on child cancer treatment that uses gene therapy 2017-09-07T09:02:00+00:00 CNA Daily News

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Washington D.C., Sep 7, 2017 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A genetic modification therapy designed for treating pediatric leukemia has drawn both praise and caution from a Catholic bioethicist, after recently being approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

While a “promising” use of gene modification technology, the treatment still has potentially deadly side effects – which could make the risks outweigh the benefits, says Fr. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D., of the National Catholic Bioethics Center.

Gene therapies have garnered public attention for their potential medical significance, and because of problematic research procedures surrounding their development and the moral questions they raise.

However, the new treatment, called Kymriah, is a hopeful development and a morally licit use of genetic modifications in medicine, Fr. Pacholczyk told CNA.

Because the therapy only uses matured cells from the patient, Fr. Pacholczyk explained, it does not entail the same ethical problems as other forms of gene therapy under investigation – including therapies which destroy human embryos or make modifications of cells which can be passed onto future generations. Instead, developing therapies which make “genetic changes to help our immune system do better what it is supposed to do, namely identifying and eliminating various dangers from the body, is a praiseworthy goal,” he said.

“To the extent that side effects can be limited or controlled, the therapy appears to be very promising, with reports of high success rates in slowing or even eliminating certain childhood cancers like pediatric acute lymphoblastic lymphoblastic leukemia,” Fr. Pacholczyk said.

Kymriah, developed by drug company Novartis, is a highly personalized form of immunotherapy called CAR T-cell therapy. The procedure, short for “Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell Therapy,” takes a person’s T-cell – a kind of white blood cell – and genetically modifies it to contain a new kind of protein.

This protein, called a chimeric antigen receptor, or CAR, helps detect certain kinds of cancer cells. When the body’s T-cells are reintroduced to the body, they are now able to find and kill the cancer cells.

The treatment is specialized to attack a kind of pediatric cancer called acute lymphoblastic lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL. ALL is a bone marrow and blood cancer, and is one of the most common childhood cancers in the United States.

According to the FDA, over 3,000 patients under the age of 20 are diagnosed with ALL each year. The treatment will be offered to patients who have not responded to other existing treatments, or those whose cancer has returned after initial treatment.

Fr. Pacholczyk emphasized that there are some ethical concerns doctors and patients considering this treatment should investigate, particularly the potential for side effects the treatment can cause in some individuals.

“One ethical concern raised by this therapy centers on the question of whether the risks may be greater than the benefits for particular patients,” he said.

In some patients, treatment with Kymriah can cause a severe immune response. Sometimes, when the white blood cells are rewritten, they can lead to a severe immune response called cytokine release syndrome, or CRS, when they are reintroduced. Symptoms of this syndrome can include high fever, flu symptoms, dangerously low blood pressure, and organ damage. It can also cause neurological symptoms, including swelling of the brain, which can be fatal.

In light of these dangerous side effects, the FDA also approved the expansion of use of an immune suppressing drug for treatment for CRS. The drug has shown to be an effective treatment for CRS after treatment with CAR-T cells. The FDA will also require Novartis to continue monitoring Kymriah after its release for long-term side effects and other harmful side effects.

With the control of the dangerous side effects, and weighing the risks of the treatment against its benefits, however, the new gene therapy looks “promising,” Fr. Pacholczyk said.

Previous Post

September 7, 2017

Filipino archbishop: Face opposition with a martyr's courage

Next Post

September 7, 2017 Who was St Peter Claver, whose tomb the Pope will visit this week?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Americas Asia - Pacific Europe Middle East - Africa Uncategorized US Vatican

Select a Month November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does James say about faith without works?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Works without faith is dead. Faith without works is dead. Faith alone is enough. Faith is only for the righteous.