CAR T is an adoptive cell transfer therapy. In short, doctors
remove immune cells from a patient’s body, reengineer them to attack cancer,
and then reinsert them in the patient.
The immune cells that doctors collect in CAR T therapy are called
T cells. They take the T cells from the patient’s blood. Then, they genetically
modify the T cells to produce special receptors on their surface…
These special receptors are called chimeric antigen receptors
(CARs). CARs are proteins that allow the T cells to recognize a specific
protein (called an antigen) on tumor cells.
Doctors grow the engineered CAR T cells in a lab. Then they infuse
the cells into the patient.
If everything works right, the CAR T cells multiply in the
patient’s body. And, thanks to the engineered receptor, they recognize and kill
cancer cells that have the antigen on their surfaces.
Doctors can engineer CAR T cells to recognize any antigen. But
researchers look for antigens that are common on cancer cells but rare on
normal cells. Then they let the engineered T cells do their thing.
The science is difficult, but the idea is simple. And it works…
A recent article in the New
England Journal of Medicine published the results of a Phase 1
trial using CAR T cell therapy in relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
ALL is extremely difficult to treat if it comes back after
chemotherapy. With traditional treatments, these patients have less than a 10%
chance of going into remission. In this trial, however, 90% of the 30 patients went into
complete remission…
And the results lasted.
Nearly 70% had no further signs of cancer after six months.
Cancer experts don’t throw around the word “cure” much. But many of the patients who received CAR
T cell therapy are basically considered cured.
No comments:
Post a Comment