Johns Hopkins All Children’s is First Pediatric Hospital in Florida to Offer CAR-T Cell Gene Therapy for Leukemia

Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital is the first certified treatment center in Florida offering a cutting-edge cellular immunotherapy for advanced leukemia in children and young adults. This is an exciting development for our young patients that previously had very few, if any, treatment options that could realistically achieve a cure ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. (PRWEB) AUGUST 30, 2018 Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital is the first certified treatment center in Florida offering a cutting-edge cellular immunotherapy for advanced leukemia in children and young adults. Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, or CAR-T, uses a patient's own cells to fight acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which affects more than 3,000 young people in the U.S. each year. This gene therapy is designed for those patients who do not respond to standard treatment or who relapse multiple times."This is an exciting development for our young patients that previously had very few, if any, treatment options that could realistically achieve a cure," said Peter Shaw, M.D., deputy director of the Johns Hopkins All Children's Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute. "By removing the patient's normal immune T-cells and then genetically reprogramming them to target a protein on the tumor cells' surface, these altered cells multiply and attack that specific protein, helping put more than 80 percent of these patients into remission. "Johns Hopkins All Children's is one of the largest pediatric cancer and blood and marrow transplant programs in Florida and is one of a limited number of pediatric hospitals across the country offering the treatment. The clinical team recently received training in how to administer the therapy and manage potential side effects.