Marshall Jensen
USA- Biography of Marshall Jensen
- Journey to Penn Medicine
- Remission and Hope
- Breakthrough and Therapy
- Success and Future
Biography of Marshall Jensen
Marshall Jensen, an American man suffering from cancer, and his wife Amanda, along with their young son Kezhman, were enjoying a trip across the United States when tragedy struck their family in 2012. Marshall, a 30-year-old man from Utah, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia just a year after their wedding. He spent two years searching for treatment for his extremely aggressive form of cancer until finally agreeing to undergo a new experimental gene therapy.
Journey to Penn Medicine
Before connecting with Penn Medicine, where the revolutionary method of using genetically engineered white blood cells with a harmless form of HIV to target cancer cells is practiced, Jensen sought help from various specialists, all to no avail. Finally, in June 2014, he met with Dr. Carl June. Dr. June and his team of doctors had spent two decades working towards a breakthrough in experimental treatment using the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). After Jensen gave his consent and underwent the innovative procedure, he exclaimed, "We called it the 'Hail Mary' pass, like the last-minute throw in American football. Everything was good... We didn't know if any of this was going to work, but it did. By the grace of God, I was able to come back."
Remission and Hope
Marshall's cancer went into remission, and he returned home in excellent health, joyfully welcomed by his loved ones. The connection between leukemia and HIV was first discovered in 2006 when Timothy Wood, an HIV-positive individual, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. After a bone marrow transplant from a donor with a rare genetic mutation, both his cancer and HIV went into remission, making him the first person ever to be completely cured of the virus. Since then, Dr. June and his team have focused entirely on developing HIV-based treatments for leukemia.
Breakthrough and Therapy
In October 2014, they published a study stating that the new therapy had shown promise in 30 cancer patients. The treatment involves extracting billions of T-lymphocytes (T-cells) from the body, genetically modifying them with deactivated HIV in a laboratory setting, and reintroducing these "serial killer" cells back into the body to fight and kill cancer. The cells are engineered to remain dormant until cancer reappears. While the idea of receiving a dose of HIV may seem frightening, Dr. June assures that the "trimmed down" HIV used in the treatment poses no threat. He adds, "The virus is crippled, but it still retains one essential feature of HIV, which is the ability to insert new genes into cells."
Success and Future
Out of the 30 leukemia patients (5 adults and 25 children) who agreed to undergo the experimental gene therapy, 23 are still alive today. Nineteen patients are in remission. In 2012, seven-year-old Emma Whitehead became the first child to undergo the new cancer treatment. The disease has remained in remission for two years. Dr. June and his team have been determined to test the therapy on other forms of cancer, and in the summer of 2014, pancreatic cancer was set to be the next focus of their attention.
