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.

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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.