HIV, cancer and transplants: 2022 was permeated by advances in health

The year 2022 was permeated by advances in the health area, such as the development of medicines to prevent hospitalizations and deaths from Covid-19; the positive results of the medicine against respiratory syncytial virus and vaccines against dengue and chikungunya; and the greatest in understanding the causes of schizophrenia.

In the area of ​​dementia, a new blood test can now help diagnose Alzheimer’s and Brazilian institutions are testing ways to prevent the disease. The first results of a drug with the potential to slow down cognitive decline and a therapy that consists of injecting a protective gene into the brain of patients were presented.

Researchers have also found that artificial intelligence can help diagnose Parkinson’s disease; began testing lab-grown blood; used virtual reality to separate conjoined twins; and managed to treat a fetus by injecting an essential enzyme through its umbilical cord.

It was also the year in which a therapy was able to cure patients with hemophilia B and science made great strides in the care of patients with cancer and HIV, in addition to allowing new types of transplantation.

Cancer

In the area of ​​oncology, 2022 began with the news of the use of a DNA test to screen for HPV, the virus responsible for causing cervical cancer, in women in Indaiatuba (98 km from São Paulo).

Shortly afterwards, in February, Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) approved the first registration of gene therapy with CAR-T cells, which considers the molecular characteristics of each type of cancer to design a specific response against the disease. T cells, which act in the body’s defense, are removed from the blood and genetically altered to attack the cancer. The material is multiplied in the laboratory and reinserted into the patient.

The therapy was announced in June as the focus of a treatment program launched in the state of São Paulo. The expectation is that the initiative, with care centers in the capital and Ribeirão Preto, will serve 300 patients per year.

The year was also marked by advances in research related to different types of tumor. In the United States, researchers managed to tame pancreatic cancer in a woman whose disease was very advanced and reported remission of rectal cancer in 18 patients who took the same drug.

In England, scientists announced they had discovered how air pollution leads to cancer. The team at the Francis Crick Institute in London showed that instead of causing damage, air pollution was waking up damaged old cells.

Also in England, a treatment using a weakened form of the herpes virus -herpes simplex— to infect and destroy harmful cells has shown great promise in early human trials. One patient’s cancer disappeared, while others saw their tumors shrink.

Another experimental treatment with a positive result was that carried out with Alyssa, 13 years old, diagnosed with T-type acute lymphocytic leukemia. She underwent an innovative cell therapy, which uses genetically modified immune cells from a healthy volunteer donor, and the cancer remitted. .

In Israel, a new radiotherapy showed promising results both in the main objective —eliminating tumors— and in preserving healthy cells, something that conventional radiotherapies are not always able to do. The treatment, available for study groups, intends to contribute to the remission of mouth, tongue, pancreas and breast cancer.

And at the end of the year, pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Merck announced that they are preparing to launch the first phase three trial of a messenger RNA cancer vaccine after a study suggested it could be used to treat patients with melanoma.

HIV

In February, researchers from the United States, Canada and Australia showed that the use of a drug indicated for the treatment of cancer was successful in expelling the dormant HIV virus from the cells of patients living with the pathogen.

In the same month, the third person in the world cured of HIV was announced. The patient, who also had leukemia, underwent a new transplant method involving umbilical cord blood from a partially matched donor.

Some time later, in July, the fourth case of cure was announced. The patient was a man who had been living with HIV since the 1980s. He had a bone marrow transplant to treat leukemia, and the donor was naturally resistant to the virus.

In terms of service, in November, the Instituto de Infectologia Emílio Ribas launched ground zero for the facilities at the Sérgio Tardelli Rehabilitation Center. The unit will be designed for people living with HIV and will have physiotherapists, occupational therapists and psychologists.

Transplants

The year was marked by unprecedented transplants. In one, a 57-year-old man received the heart of a genetically modified pig. The patient died two months after the procedure, but researchers remain optimistic about the success of this surgery in the future.

In another case, a patient with terminal cancer underwent a double lung transplant. “My life went from zero to 100…” said the man six months after surgery.

Another pioneering procedure was the heart and thymus transplant performed on a baby in the United States. The thymus is a gland that helps in the development of T cells, which play an essential role in the immune system. Doctors believe that the combined transplant will help prevent organ rejection.

In Spain, a 13-month-old baby also made medical history after undergoing the world’s first intestinal transplant from a donor in asystole (absence of heartbeat).

Also this year, for the first time, the implant of a human ear created from the patient’s cells with a 3D printer was performed.