Penn: 1, Leukemia: 0

It is a rare occasion when we post something that generates reader consensus, but the discovery of a possible leukemia treatment by Penn pathology and laboratory medicine professor Dr. Carl June certainly justifies widespread celebration. The treatment, a gene therapy that causes T-cells of the body's immune system to attack cancer cells, leaves many optimistic about the medical community being one step closer to  finding a cure for cancer.

While exciting, June's treatment  is still in its preliminary stages. The advanced therapy has only been used on three patients - an admittedly small sample size - two of whom have remained cancer-free one year after treatment. Despite limited testing, the demonstrated outcomes are telling because they confirm scientists' previous hypotheses about the potential success that an alteration of T-cell genetics may have in the realm of cancer treatment. Translation for the scientifically illiterate: this is a huge deal!

June and his colleagues' treatment focuses specifically on leukemia, but there may be implications for treatments concerning other types of cancer, too, such as pancreatic, ovarian, prostate and brain. And this discovery comes one and a half years after another Penn oncologist's triumph. Congrats, Penn Medicine, it seems you have done it again!