Italian researchers say they've found a promising new way to treat children with the most common type of childhood cancer.
The researchers at Rome's Bambino Ges Children's Hospital say that by the second half of 2024, they will start a clinical trial using genetically modified immune system cells called iNK cells, reports the ANSA news agency.
iNK cells are a variation on the classic Car-T cells that are found in many types of cancer.
They are "prepared by a third-party donor and are immediately available to the patient who needs them," says Franco Locatelli, head of the hospital's Pediatric Oncohematology and Cellular and Gene Therapy Area.
The iNK cells were developed by the team of Concetta Quintarelli, head of the Baby Jesus Tumor Gene Therapy Research Unit.
They will be tested on 80 children with acute myeloid leukemia, a cancer that typically starts in the bone marrow and usually doesn't respond to existing treatments, reports the Telegraph.
The trial is expected to last two years.
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