An Arizona patient with synovial sarcoma has received a new immune cell therapy. Officials at HonorHealth Research Institute say this is the first patient in the state to get that treatment.
Synovial sarcoma is a soft-tissue cancer that usually occurs in the large joints of the arms and legs. The new treatment is called TECELRA, and it’s the first and only, one-time treatment for advanced synovial sarcoma.
The drug is made from a patient’s own white blood cells and enhances parts of the immune system to target and destroy cancer cells.
Over the course of about six weeks, cells are collected from the patient, engineered in a lab to recognize and attack cancer cells, and then infused back into the body.
A press release from HonorHealth Research Institute said the patient tolerated the cell infusion well, with early signs of tumor shrinkage.
"This drug has been shown to benefit over 40% of refractory patients, patients whose cancer has progressed after other treatments, with a significant number of patients having durable benefit lasting a year or more,” Dr. Justin Moser said.
Moser is an associate clinical investigator in the Research Institute’s Cancer Research Division.
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