science
Teen in T-cell leukaemia remission after CRISPR-edited cell therapy and second bone marrow transplant
Alyssa Tapley received experimental CRISPR base-edited CAR T-cell treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital after chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant failed to treat her T-cell leukaemia. She remains in remission more than four years later.
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Alyssa Tapley is in remission from T-cell leukaemia after receiving an experimental CRISPR base-edited CAR T-cell therapy at Great Ormond Street Hospital. @NewScientist reported that Tapley, who turned 13 during treatment in 2021, had exhausted standard options. She was diagnosed after presenting with double pneumonia and respiratory distress.
One month of chemotherapy at Leicester Royal Infirmary beginning after Easter 2021 failed, as did a subsequent intensified regimen. A bone marrow transplant performed at Sheffield Children’s Hospital at the end of October 2021 also did not succeed. Tapley spent five and a half weeks there.
She was then offered a place in a trial organised by Professor Waseem Qasim that used CRISPR base editing to modify CAR T-cells so they would not attack each other. Dr Robert Chiesa ran the trial with Qasim. Tapley underwent two weeks of conditioning chemotherapy before the infusion.
One week later the cells had multiplied. Four weeks after the infusion, bone marrow testing showed no detectable leukaemia cells. Six weeks after the infusion she received a second bone marrow transplant.
Tapley turned 17 in January 2025 and remains in remission. She has an underactive thyroid attributed to prior chemotherapy rather than the CAR T-cell therapy. “I’m still in remission, but not everything is resolved,” Tapley said.
