First News - Finding a cure for cancer

First News is a 28-page weekly newspaper for young people delivered into homes across the UK every Friday. Find out more and try for free at firstnews.co.uk/1free website.

Cure for cancer

Scientists are delighted after a new treatment for children and adults with leukaemia has effectively cured them of cancer.

Two people treated with the CAR-T-cell therapy have remained free of cancer 12 years after their treatment. Cancer cells were destroyed within months of treatment starting, and they haven’t come back.

Carl June of the University of Pennsylvania, who has led work on the therapy, said: “We can now conclude that CAR-T cells can cure patients with leukaemia.”

The treatment works by adapting T-cells, which are a type of white blood cell that protect us from viruses and certain cancers. But some cancers are very good at evading them. So CAR-T cells are designed to recognise and destroy cells created by leukaemia and lymphoma, two types of blood cancer.

The therapy is being used in the UK on children and young adults with leukaemia and adults with certain types of lymphoma.

This study gives scientists hope that other patients will respond equally well.

YOUR NEWS

Young people! Send us your news and photos to [email protected] and have your story published on this page and, perhaps, in First News too.

STRICTLY LIVE TOUR

By Lucy Brint

In January, me and my mum went to see the Strictly Come Dancing The Live Tour in Birmingham.

The show started with an incredible group number, which Janette came out on stage to host. Dancers John and Johannes kicked it off with their fantastic Pirates of the Caribbean pasodoble. It scored a perfect 30.

The show was wonderful and my top two dances were probably Tilly Ramsay and Neil’s choice of Revolting Children from Matilda The Musical and Rose and Giovanni’s choice of Symphony by Clean Bandit. The winners were Rose and Giovanni, and they completed an amazing final number.

I loved all the group numbers, but a particular favourite was Johannes’s Ballroom. I really enjoyed the show and would rate it an 11/10!

DIARY DATES

FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT

FEBRUARY 21 to MARCH 6

Fairtrade means workers’ rights, safer conditions and fairer pay, to make quality, ethically-produced products.

WORLD THINKING DAY

FEBRUARY 22

A day of international friendship, celebrated by Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. It is an opportunity to speak out on issues that affect girls and young women.

WOW!

The world’s largest cut diamond, The Enigma, has sold for £3.16m ($4.3m)! Little is known about where the diamond originally came from, although it’s around a billion years old and is thought to have been carried to Earth by an asteroid.

WEEKLY PUZZLE

Last week's puzzle answer: