Relapse after second transplant, Russian B-ALL patient's CAR-T treatment journey in Boren hospital
2025-1-17VARELII is an acute B-lymphoblastic leukemia patient from Russia. The news of a relapse after his second transplant left him in despair for a while, and the local hospital in Russia thought he had almost no chance of being cured.
But VARELII didn't give up, through many aspects of understanding and research, he contacted the team of Director Zhao Defeng of Beijing GoBroad Boren Hospital, who accepted VARELII after sufficient communication and comprehensive evaluation in the early stage. “I thought I would be rejected for admission, but the team of Director Zhao accepted me and gave me the motivation to have a positive treatment. ” With the last glimmer of hope, accompanied by his wife, VARELII traveled thousands of miles to receive CAR-T treatment.
After VARELII came to Boren Hospital, he first received a comprehensive examination and test. After the test, it was found that there was not only bone marrow recurrence, but also tumor cells in the cerebrospinal fluid, which was actually a state of bone marrow recurrence combined with central recurrence, and the condition was very critical. Moreover, the gene BCR-ABL1 was found in this examination, which was not found at the onset of the patient's disease. Boren Hospital has laid a solid foundation for the patient's personalized treatment plan by integrating the diagnosis through precise genetic testing.
“The patient came in very weak, with anemia, low platelets, and high tumor load, plus having already undergone two transplants, he was under tremendous stress, both physically and psychologically.” Director Zhao Defeng's team first communicated with the patient, indicating that there was hope that the disease could reach remission through CAR-T cell therapy. The team gave the patient confidence in the treatment and then formulated a personalized treatment plan based on the patient's status.
The medical team chose the first target to use donor-sourced cells to prepare CD19 CAR-T cells for treatment, and the overall infusion back process was relatively smooth, although there was still cytokine release syndrome (CRS), with symptoms of fever and rash, but with the medication, the side-effects were quickly and effectively controlled.
“After the second relapse in Russia, my heart was very heavy, through this period of treatment and communication with Director Zhao's team, my confidence was slowly restored, and the actual treatment effect was also very good, thanks to all those who helped me, so that a person who had lost hope, had the hope to live again.” VARELII said.
Before being discharged from the hospital, VARELII's bone puncture results showed that his bone marrow had reached deep remission, with a gene of 0. The lumbar puncture results showed that the tumor cells in the cerebrospinal fluid had also dissipated, and the white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets had basically returned to normal, with the disease reaching a very good state of complete remission.
In order to show their gratitude, VARELII and his wife specially customized a silk banner and personally gave it to Director Zhao Defeng's team before they were discharged from the hospital, “The whole treatment process moved me a lot, thanks to Boren Hospital and Director Zhao's team, which enabled me to start working and living again, and I hope that I can bring my family to China for a trip next time, instead of treating the disease any more! ” VARELII is looking forward to the future.