Cancer patients called cured a decade after gene therapy

By LAURA UNGAR

(AP) — University of Pennsylvania doctors say they cured two men of leukemia with a gene therapy that transforms a patient's own cells into cancer killers.

A decade after they were treated, doctors couldn't find any sign of cancer in their bodies.

Researchers described the two cases in a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

They say the two examples show the gene therapy treatment can attack cancer immediately, then stay inside the body for years and keep the disease at bay.

The one-time treatment is now used by thousands around the world to treat certain blood cancers.