The Miracle of Alyssa: Girl, 13, defeats terminal leukemia after revolutionary gene therapy

The Miracle of Alyssa: Girl, 13, defeats terminal leukemia after revolutionary gene therapy
Alyssa, 13, has been leukemia-free for more than six months (@GOSHCharity/screenshot)

LEICESTER, ENGLAND: A teenage girl has been cleared of her terminal cancer after using a revolutionary new type of gene therapy that scientists have described as the most sophisticated cell engineering to date. Alyssa, 13, from Leicester, had already undergone chemotherapy and an initial bone marrow transplant - in hopes to alleviate her leukemia, but without success.

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Scientists said that without the cancer treatment the only next step she would be left with is palliative care. But after receiving an infusion of T-cells altered with the help of the first-ever use of base-edited cell therapy at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH), Alyssa is recovering. She has been in remission for six months. These pre-manufactured cells, which a healthy volunteer donated, were edited using the new technology which allowed them to hunt down and kill cancerous T-cells without attacking each other.