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Washington University

660 South Euclid Avenue, Campus Box 8018
St. Louis, MO 63110
United States

Leukemia is the most common childhood cancer, and while most patients are cured with standard therapy, those with refractory disease face dire outcomes. The development of a treatment called CAR T cell therapy changed this dramatically; today, more than 80% of children with resistant leukemias achieve complete remission after a single infusion of these engineered immune cells. This is one of the most remarkable advances in the history of cancer.

 

Washington University
Washington University

Mentor Name: David Gutmann

Mentor Name: David Gutmann

Mentor Name: David Gutmann

Mentor: David Gutmann

Mentor: Dr. Abby Green

Lay Summary: While other types of pediatric leukemia have enjoyed tremendous improvement in survival, infants who get leukemia still have less than 50% chance of survival, and survivors often suffer long term side effects from their treatment. Infant leukemia (IL) develops during pregnancy and has unique characteristics that are poorly understood. While mutations are an important feature of cancer, IL samples possess exceptionally few mutations – not enough to account for the number of cases.

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