Vietnam applies gene therapy to cancer treatment

According to Ta Thanh Van, Vice Principal of the Hanoi Medical University
(HMU), the university has successfully applied in Duchenne
muscular dystrophy treatment. At present, they are adopting therapy
technology to treat cancer.

With the success in receiving and applying the Japanese-transferred cell
technology, the university has proposed a plan to implement it in public
hospitals to the Ministry of Health. This will lay a foundation to develop
higher technologies including recombinant DNA technology and immune cell
therapy.

Immune cell therapy, developed over the past decade, aims to rebalance and
increase the strength of immune responses to effectively kill cancer cells.

When patients suffer from cancer, abnormal cells form, causing an immune system
imbalance. Normally, the human body can detect the imbalance and find a way to
block and kill those cells. However, the weakened immune system cannot prevent
abnormal cells from developing and forming tumors.

The immune cell therapy requires drawing blood from patients and separating out
the major immune cells of a patient (T cells). Next, using a disarmed virus,
the T-cells are genetically engineered to produce receptors on their surface.
These special receptors allow the T-cells to recognize and attach to a specific
protein, or antigen, on tumor cells. After that, the cells are grown in
the laboratory into the hundreds of millions. The final step is the infusion of
the T-cells into the patient. If all goes as planned, the engineered cells
further multiply in the patient’s body and, with guidance from their engineered
receptor, recognise and kill cancer cells that harbor the antigen on their
surfaces.

In , one method of high-tech targeted treatment uses “small-molecule
drugs” which can block the process that helps cancer cells multiply and
spread. They work by targeting specific genes or proteins found in cancer cells
or in cells related to cancer growth.

Targeted therapy depends on the responsiveness of individual patients’ cancer
patients. Some patients can adapt to it well while others cannot. Targeted
therapy fails to succeed in over 30 percent of patients.

Therefore, patients need to take a genetic test to evaluate the state of their
cancer cells before any treatment. HMU is the pioneer in implementing this
technique in Vietnam.

So far, targeted therapy has brought about positive results. The first and
second-generation drugs are covered by the social insurance programme.-VNA