GORDON HASTINGS

Gordon’s Good Reads is in the current October-November issue of VENU. VENU,the exciting new Arts and Culture Magazine has been expanded to serve both Fairfield and Westchester Counties in Connecticut and New York.  Also in the new issue is an article on Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy’s Young Investigator Clodagh O’Shea. ACGT is a ghhManagement conculting client.

ghhMAnagement consulting client Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy announced a major cancer treatment breakthrough this week in conjunction with the University of Pennsylvania. Barbara Netterwho ten years ago co-founded ACGT with her late husband Edward, appeared on the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, The Today Show and Fox News.  ACGT funded the research of Dr. Carl June at U-Penn which is described in full in the following news release.

 

 

 

GROUNDBREAKING ACGT FUNDED STUDY ON LEUKEMIA EXCEEDS ‘WILDEST EXPECTATIONS’

ACGT Fellow’s Research Obliterates Tumors in Leukemia Patients

 

STAMFORD, Conn., August 10, 2011 – During the past ten years, the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy has funded more than 37 distinguished ACGT Research Fellows and currently has 17 human clinical trials underway, but the recent news on treating leukemia reported simultaneously in the August 10, 2011, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine and Science Translational Medicine, exceeded everyone’s wildest expectations.

 

ACGT Fellow Dr. Carl June and his team at the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center and Perelman School of Medicine have made great strides in the treatment of advanced CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia), the most common type of the blood disease that strikes 15,000 people in the U.S., and kills 4,300 every year.  Traditional treatment has been chemotherapy and radiation that can help stall the disease, but until now, the only cure has been a bone marrow transplant, which can have life-threatening effects. 

 

This new cancer treatment breakthrough was 20 years in the making and its recent clinical trial was funded not by the government or pharmaceutical companies, but rather by a non-profit organization, the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT). 

 

Dr. Savio Woo, chairman of ACGT’s Scientific Advisory Council, and professor in the Department of Gene and Cell Medicine at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, commented that, “It was great that the path-finding role of ACGT played into funding the University of Pennsylvania trial that led to these exciting results for Leukemia treatment.”

 

The treatment uses genetically modified versions of the patient’s own T cells, and has shown remission for up to a year in a small group of patients, several of whom are in complete remission. The protocol, which involves removing patients’ white blood cells and modifying them in Penn’s vaccine production facility, then infusing the new cells back into the patient’s body following chemotherapy, provides a tumor-attack roadmap for the treatment of leukemia and other cancers including those of the lung and ovaries and myeloma and melanoma.  This is the first demonstration of the use of gene transfer therapy to create “serial killer” T cells aimed at cancerous tumors.

 

“Within three weeks, the tumors, which were several pounds each, had been obliterated in a way that was much more complete than we ever expected,” said senior author Carl June, MD, director of Translational Research and a professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the Abramson Cancer Center, who led the work. “The results exceeded our expectations quite a bit; our entire team is really excited, and as well, the patients are excited.”

 

While the study size was small at just three patients, the results are outstanding.  “These are patients that had few treatment options,” said David Porter, MD, professor of Medicine and director of Blood and Marrow Transplantation.

 

“ACGT is thrilled with the results of this study,” noted Barbara Netter, co-founder of ACGT.  “This proves that with targeted research, progress can be made.”  Barbara went on to say, “While this news is very exciting, more funds are needed to support additional researchers that are on the cusp of breakthroughs in treating cancer.  With your support, we can see this through.”

 

The Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT) is the nation’s only non-profit dedicated exclusively to cell and gene cancer therapy research.  100 percent of all contributions to ACGT go directly to research and fund grants with leading scientists in the U.S., representing such institutions as Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, Duke University, The Salk Institute, University of Pennsylvania, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Stanford University, Dana Farber Cancer Center, University of California San Diego, University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Chicago.  A rigorous grant review by Scientific Advisory Council ensures the most promising projects are rewarded.  To learn more about the leukemia study at the University of Pennsylvania, and about the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy, visit www.acgtfoundation.org or call 203-358-8000.

 

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