ON A SCREEN ON THE FAR WALL, I COULD SEE A HOLE WHERE THE TUMOR HAD BEEN, AN ALMOST PERFECTLY ROUND MINIATURE PLANET.
One morning at the end of April 2023, Marcela Maus, a cancer researcher at Mass General in Boston, got a call from her colleague Bryan Choi. “He called me, and he’s like, ‘Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!’ And I’m like, ‘What is going on?’ ” Maus said. Choi, a neurosurgeon with the languid demeanor of a surfer, was not given to outbursts. Maus hung up the phone and hurried over to his office.
The day before, Choi and Maus had treated their first patient in a clinical trial for an aggressive brain cancer called glioblastoma, infusing genetically modified white blood cells directly into the fluid surrounding the brain. They had been up all night worrying, especially after the patient, a 74-yearold man, developed a fever. Choi had ordered an MRI. “We were not looking for the results,” he said. “We were trying to make sure that our patient was okay.”
When Maus got to Choi’s office, images from the MRI were loading on his screen. They stared in wonder: The patient’s tumor, which a few days before had shown up on the scan as a bright blob the size of a strawberry, had almost entirely disappeared. No one had heard of that kind of regression in glioblastoma, especially not overnight. “My first instinct was that there was something wrong with the MRI scanner,” Choi said. But then the follow-up scans looked even better.
Several weeks later, they treated a second patient, a civil engineer from upstate New York named Tom Fraser, and the process repeated itself: the infusion, the fever, and the rapid regression of the tumor. “It was almost like clockwork,” Maus said, still sounding astonished months later. After a third patient had a similar response, she paused the trial and wrote up her results.
A VIAL CONTAINING 10 MILLION OF TOM FRASER'S CAR-T CELLS AT MASS GENERAL CANCER CENTER IN BOSTON.
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Denne historien er fra July 15-28, 2024-utgaven av New York magazine.
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Trapped in Time
A woman relives the same day in a stunning Danish novel.
Polyphonic City
A SOFT, SHIMMERING beauty permeates the images of Mumbai that open Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine As Light. For all the nighttime bustle on display-the heave of people, the constant activity and chaos-Kapadia shoots with a flair for the illusory.
Lear at the Fountain of Youth
Kenneth Branagh's production is nipped, tucked, and facile.
A Belfast Lad Goes Home
After playing some iconic Americans, Anthony Boyle is a beloved IRA commander in a riveting new series about the Troubles.
The Pluck of the Irish
Artists from the Indiana-size island continue to dominate popular culture. Online, they've gained a rep as the \"good Europeans.\"
Houston's on Houston
The Corner Store is like an upscale chain for downtown scene-chasers.
A Brownstone That's Pink Inside
Artist Vivian Reiss's Murray Hill house of whimsy.
These Jeans Made Me Gay
The Citizens of Humanity Horseshoe pants complete my queer style.
Manic, STONED, Throttle, No Brakes
Less than six months after her Gagosian sölu show, the artist JAMIAN JULIANO-VILLAND lost her gallery and all her money and was preparing for an exhibition with two the biggest living American artists.
WHO EVER THOUGHT THAT BRIGHT PINK MEAT THAT LASTS FOR WEEKS WAS A GOOD IDEA?
Deli Meat Is Rotten
