CAR T-CELL THERAPY: A PROMISING CANCER TREATMENT ADVANCEMENT

Employing genetically modified immune cells to attack tumors, CAR T-cell therapy offers new hope for cancer patients.

For many decades, cancer treatment has relied on surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. Over the past decade, immunotherapy, therapies that stimulate and strengthen the power of a patient's immune system to attack tumors, has rapidly become an important cog in the wheel of cancer treatment. One form of immunotherapy, called CAR T-cell therapy, has generated tremendous excitement among researchers and oncologists alike.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T ceolls are genetically modified T cells that are collected from a patient's blood and modified in the lab to express a tumor antigen-specific cell- which has the specificity of antigen-binding domain from a B cell receptor making it specific for a type of the target cell, and it is fused to the intracellular domain of a CD3 T cell giving it the cytotoxic power to kill the specific cancer cell, hence the name Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell.

EXPANDING THE REACH

Efforts are underway to address challenges related to manufacturing and scalability. Streamlining the production process and increasing the accessibility of CAR T-cell therapy could make it more readily available to patients around the world. India has a handful of companies which have either already received DCGI approval, or are in the process of receiving the same.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved six CAR-T cell therapies for hematological cancers (blood cancers) since 2017. Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel) and Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel) were the first two CAR-T products to receive approval. They are used for treating patients up to 25 years old with refractory or relapsed B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and adults with refractory or relapsed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) after two or more lines of systemic therapies.