SCIENCE / MEDICINE : Researchers Want to Implant Altered Cells

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health are seeking permission to genetically engineer human white blood cells and, for the first time, return the engineered cells to the donors’ bodies. The cells would be labeled with a marker gene that would allow the researchers to identify the cells and monitor the course of cancer therapy.

The proposal was made by Dr. Steven A. Rosenberg, who has developed an expensive and controversial technique for treating white cells with Interleukin-2 outside the body to turn them into cancer killers. Rosenberg wants to be able to identify the treated cells after they are returned to the body to find out why the treatment does not work for all patients.

The proposal must be approved by at least four separate ethics committees at NIH, as well as by the NIH director and the Department of Health and Human Services assistant secretary for health. That approval process is expected to take at least a year.