Modified T Cells used successfully to fight cancer

This is pretty amazing. Doctors removed T cells from a man with severe leukemia, basically re-programmed them to go after cancer, and put them back in his body.

Nothing happened for 10 days.

Then "...hell broke loose in his hospital room. He began shaking with chills. His temperature shot up. His blood pressure shot down. He became so ill that doctors moved him into intensive care and warned that he might die. His family gathered at the hospital, fearing the worst.

A few weeks later, the fevers were gone. And so was the leukemia."

CT scans, biopsies, etc.: all negative. This was a year ago. He lost two pounds after this intense reaction ended, basically it was the mass of the cancer that had been destroyed. This is an experimental treatment, but very promising: they tried it on three people, one other had a total remission like this case, the other a partial remission.

NY Times Article: An Immune System Trained to Kill Cancer