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After the CD8 cells did their job, they remained in the blood but unexpectedly transformed into CD4 cells. When the Penn researchers removed CD4 cells from the blood of Mr. Ludwig and Mr. Olson, they found that these cells could kill B cells in the lab. CD4 cells are called assassins or Dr. As DiPersio puts it, it had become “preservatives that could at least keep tumor cells away and go undetected in the patient for years.”
Can CD4 cells remain in the blood without cancer cells to kill? Or were they there because the leukemia didn’t really go away and instead tried to come back, only being attacked by the CD4 cells?
Dr. “We can’t find any leukemia cells in Doug,” June said. However, he added that perhaps they are still there in small quantities and appear, only to be taken back “like hitting a mole” by CD4 cells.
Still, he suspects CD4 cells are more like guards.
“The leukemia is gone, but they stay in business,” he said.
Whatever the mechanism, Dr. Porter, the result is “beyond my wildest imagination.”
“Oncologists don’t use words like ‘treat’ lightly or easily or frankly very often,” he said. “I assure you it is not used lightly. The patients we treated were so advanced,” he added, “the biggest disappointment was that it didn’t always work.”
D., head of the leukemia division at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. “Historically, if these cancers do not recur within two to five years, the probability of recurrence is low,” said Hagop M. Kantarjian.
Life is good for Mr. Olson, now 75 and living in Pleasanton, California. He still shakes his head at the surprising coincidence that his oncologist was a researcher in that clinical trial ten years ago.
“I’m a lucky man,” he said.
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