Science-y Things

I was sent home two days after the lung wedge surgery to recover. Ten days after that, I received an email from my immunotherapy fellow at NIH. He had good news:  my tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) were growing. He mentioned that they would continue to multiply over the next several weeks. When they reached sufficient numbers, they'd be cryogenically preserved until they were needed.

Poor, chilly lymphocytes.

DNA from the tumor had been sequenced. Healthy (non-mutated) DNA from my blood was also sequenced. Next, the two sets of DNA would be compared. Differences between them would indicate the mutations that allowed the cancer to grow. One of the attending doctors mentioned that this sequencing-and-comparing process involved terabytes (one million million bytes) of information, and would take some time to work out.

What the clinical trial (NCT01174121) seeks to achieve is to focus the body's immune system to attack precisely those mutations present in chemo-resistant tumors. It is believed that such defenses are already present in our bodies, but perhaps in numbers too small to effectively eradicate the cancer.  If researchers could identify relevant TIL; if their numbers could be increased, and if the TIL could survive the transition from lab to human circulation, then maybe they'd survive and thrive long enough to conquer every single cancer cell in the "tumor-bearing host" (that would be me, the patient).

Scientist outside of NIH would build a set of "tandem mini-genes" (TMGs) using my tumor's genetic information. The TMGs consist of mutation-containing bits of DNA strung together. Sixty-one mutations were found in my tumor, and so sixty-one mini-genes were created. In order to test more than one mutation at a time, the Scientist-slash-Wizards strung together multiple mini-genes in tandem. After the researchers constructed them, they would present these TMGs to the TIL. Any reactivity (TIL attacking) would be counted as a positive result.  If reactivity was proven in the lab, the trial could proceed.

I was told to expect a two-to-three month wait while mutations were identified and TMGs were built. After that step, if reactivity was shown, then the reacting TIL would be "expanded" (multiplied). If things moved forward to that point, my contact at NIH would give me a call to invite me back to NIH for "conditioning" (chemo to wipe out my existing immune system) and cell treatment (infusion into me of the specific TIL that attacked the cancer cells in the lab).

I settled in for the two-month wait, hoping and praying throughout every day that the trial would advance toward treatment. Beyond that, I prayed that this experimental treatment would transform my diagnosis of terminal illness into a reason to praise God for the miracle of science.

I always prayed for the doctors, scientists, and other people who were working on my case. I prayed that they would do their best work. Later, I prayed for their holiness. I believe that all people are called to be holy. Holiness, I reasoned, would promote cooperation of all those working on my case. It would facilitate Divine grace.