It’s hard to prevent your child from getting sick, but what happens when your child is unable to fight even the most common infections? SCID-XI is a chronic disorder that leaves children with little or no immune protection.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has developed a new gene therapy that cures infants born with SCID-XI. With this new treatment, children were able to produce functioning immune cells for the first time. Prior to this, the best treatment for SCID-XI had been a bone marrow transplantation with a tissue-matched sibling donor, however more than 80% of SCID-XI patients lack such donors.

“These patients are responding to vaccinations and have immune systems to make all immune cells they need for protection from infections. This is a first for patients with SCID-XI,” said Dr. Eweline Mamcarz, of the St. Jude Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy.

Read more about the new therapy here.