Indigenous CAR-T cell therapy gets rolling: ‘first’ patient is cancer-free

Indigenous CAR-T cell therapy gets rolling: ‘first’ patient is cancer-free

Subject: Science and tech

Section: Health

Chimeric antigen receptor T cells are T cells that have been genetically engineered to produce an artificial T-cell receptor for use in immunotherapy. Chimeric antigen receptors are receptor proteins that have been engineered to give T cells the new ability to target a specific protein.

• An 11-year-old has become the first patient to receive CAR-T therapy (immunotherapy) that uses the body’s own cells to fight cancer.
• CAR-T is a personalized form of cancer treatment.

• CAR-T involves removing immune cells and modifying them in a laboratory so they can recognize cancer cells.
• Immunotherapy is treatment that uses your body’s own immune system to help fight cancer.
• First, the patient has blood removed and the white blood cells are separated out, with the rest of the blood being returned to the patient.
• A harmless virus is used to insert genes into T-cells, a special type of immune cell.
• These genes cause the T-cells to add a hook on to their surface, known as a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR).
• These engineered CAR-T cells – programmed to recognize and destroy the patient’s cancer cells – are multiplied in huge numbers and then infused back into the patient.