China News Service, July 14. According to Taiwan's "Central News Agency", a little girl from Taiwan, Tingting, was diagnosed with childhood B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia at the age of 6, and she still relapsed last year after chemotherapy.
In April this year, Tingting recovered successfully after receiving CD19 CAR-T cell therapy, and went home to celebrate her 10th birthday, becoming the first case in Taiwan.
National Taiwan University Hospital held a press conference on the 14th. Ting Ting, the first little girl in Taiwan to officially receive CD19 CAR-T cell therapy, appeared with her father and mother to share the joy of her new life and hope to bring hope to other patients.
Recalling that she had accompanied Tingting to fight cancer for 4 years and 3 months. Tingting's mother said that Tingting was very young when she fell ill, and she was only a senior in kindergarten, so she told Tingting that it was like a cold. It will be fine, don't let Tingting have too many thoughts, just be happy in the hospital every day.
Ting Ting's mother also mentioned that Ting Ting stayed in the hospital for 1 or 2 months and went home for the first time. She felt that the hospital was very fun. Thank you National Taiwan University for creating a friendly environment. Therefore, Tingting decided to implement the therapy as soon as it relapsed. Now Tingting has recovered and was discharged from the hospital, hoping to help more children.
Li Wangzuo, director of the Department of Pediatrics at National Taiwan University Hospital, pointed out that cancer is the second leading cause of death in children, of which acute leukemia accounts for an important proportion. Children who have been ill in the past have to receive chemotherapy, but some children do not respond well to chemotherapy and may need bone marrow transplantation. Even if you find a suitable partner, you may take anti-rejection drugs for a lifetime, and complications may occur in the process.
Zhou Xiantang, a hematologist-oncologist at National Taiwan University Hospital, said in a briefing that there are about 500 new cases of cancer in children every year, of which 25% or about 125 are acute lymphoblastic leukemia, of which 1.5% of the children did not respond well or relapsed.
Zhou Xiantang said that Tingting suffered from childhood B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia at the age of 6. At the time, it was a case that was difficult to completely cure. It was also found that there were pathogenic gene mutations in the bad cells. Even if he received stem cell therapy in the future, it may still cause complication.
Zhou Xiantang said that during the three-year treatment period after Tingting's first onset, chemical and targeted therapy still relapsed. This year, he decided to accept CAR-T cell therapy. After receiving a one-time injection, he successfully recovered. At present, no cancer cells have been detected. Still continuing to observe.