"Scientists Test 'Cell Therapy' in Fight Against AIDS Tumors"

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1992. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

"Scientists Test 'Cell Therapy' in Fight Against AIDS Tumors"

Baltimore Sun (12/28/92), P. 3A

Abstract: A study investigating a procedure known as "cell therapy" will be conducted this month in San Francisco to test the procedure's efficacy in fighting Kaposi's sarcoma. The study will be the third and most extensive trial of cell therapy. The procedure involves removing white blood cells, known as CD8 cells, from the patient's blood. These are subsequently isolated and treated with small doses of Interleuken sII, a cancer-fighting drug, and phytohemaglutina, a soybean extract. The cells are then incubated for two to three weeks, during which time they multiply about tenfold. Later they are reinfused by the billions into the patient's bloodstream. The goal is to use a patient's own cells to fight the tumors, and thus encourage the strengthening of an immune system that has been weakened by HIV infection. Applied Immune Sciences, the small biotechnology firm in Santa Clara, Calif., that developed the procedure, says it has shown good results in two earlier tests, and no negative side effects. The company hopes the study will verify cell therapy's effectiveness against Kaposi's sarcoma and help create a broad treatment for AIDS and other immune-system diseases. Dr. James Kahn, associate director of the AIDS program at San Francisco General Hospital and assistant professor of medicine at the University of California--San Francisco, is directing the study, which will test 20 people. He hopes to introduce preliminary findings from the study at the international conference on AIDS in Berlin in June.

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