CAR T Cell therapy

CAR T Cell therapy

Subject: Science and Technology

Section: Biotechnology 

Concept :

• The three major forms of treatment for any cancer are surgery (removing the cancer), radiotherapy (delivering ionizing radiation to the tumour), and systemic therapy (administering medicines that act on the tumour).
• Surgery and radiotherapy have been refined significantly over time whereas advances in systemic therapy have been unparalleled.
• A new development on this front, currently holding the attention of many researchers worldwide, is the CAR T Cell therapy
• Systemic therapy’s earliest form was chemotherapy; when administered, it preferentially acts on cancer cells because of the latter’s rapid, unregulated growth and poor healing mechanisms. Chemotherapeutic drugs have modest response rates and significant side effects as they affect numerous cell types in the body. The next stage in its evolution was targeted agents, also known as immunotherapy. Here the drugs bind to specific targets on the cancer or on the immune cells that help the tumour grow or spread. This method often has fewer side effects as the impact on non­tumour cells is limited. However, it is effective only against tumours that express these targets.
• Unlike chemotherapy or immunotherapy, which require mass-produced injectable or oral medication, CAR T­cell therapies use a patient’s own cells. They are modified in the laboratory to activate T­cells, a component of immune cells, to attack tumours. These modified cells are then infused back into the patient’s bloodstream after conditioning them to multiply more effectively. The cells are even more specific than targeted agents and directly activate the patient’s immune system against cancer, making the treatment more clinically effective. This is why they’re called ‘living drugs”

What is CAR T Cell Therapy?

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.

Where is it used?

• As of today, CAR T cell therapy has been approved for leukemias (cancers arising from the cells that produce white blood cells) and lymphomas (arising from the lymphatic system).
• These cancers occur through the unregulated reproduction of a single clone of cells, that is, following the cancerous transformation of a single type of cell, it produces millions of identical copies. As a result, the target for CAR T-cells is consistent and reliable.
• CAR T cell therapy is also used among patients with cancers that have returned after an initial successful treatment or which haven’t responded to previous combinations of chemotherapy or immunotherapy. Its response rate is variable. In certain kinds of leukemias and lymphomas, the efficacy is as high as 90%, whereas in other types of cancers it is significantly lower. The potential side effects are also significant, associated with cytokine release syndrome (a widespread activation of the immune system and collateral damage to the body’s normal cells) and neurological symptoms (severe confusion).

Cellular therapy (CT)

It is the transplantation of human cells to replace or repair damaged tissue and/or cells. With new technologies, innovative products, and limitless imagination, many different types of cells may be used as part of a therapy or treatment for a variety of diseases and conditions.