A new shot has provided three leukemia patients with almost immediate relief from their sickness. According to MSNBC, doctors at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center published their findings Wednesday about a treatment that has made chroniclymphocytic leukemia, the most common form of leukemia disappear in two of the three patients and erased about 70% of the illness in the third patient. According to the doctors, each patient lost about five pounds of cancerous tissue from the treatment in about five weeks, and a year later, the tissue is still gone.

The treatment was developed by removing white blood cells from the patients. Using a harmless, modified version of HIV, the scientists then injected a series of genes that are designed to kill cancer cells into the white blood cells. After creating a huge batch of these white blood cells, they were then injected back into the patients.

The difference between this and other white blood cell treatments is that the cells in this treatment were given a gene that made them multiply a thousand times, making them more effective against the leukemia.

You can read the full story here at MSNBC. What do you think about this story? Give us your opinions in the comments section.

University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania

By Monique Jones

Monique Jones blogs about race and culture in entertainment, particularly movies and television. You can read her articles at Racialicious, and her new site, COLOR . You can also listen to her new podcast, What would Monique Say.

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