Driving the CAR: The Road Ahead for Cell Therapy
Programming human cells to perform desired therapeutic functions is the basis for the growing field of cell therapy. One key example is chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapy, in which patient-derived T cells are genetically modified to express artificial antigen-targeting receptors to allow redirection to attack tumors
In this interview (conducted by senior editor Fay Lin), we asked Geulah Livshits, Senior Research Analyst at Chardan, to assess the advances and challenges facing the cell therapy field. Livshits discusses how the field has progressed with advances in tumor-immune interactions, cell engineering technologies, as well as improvements in cell manufacturing and the logistics of cell therapy administration in the clinic.
The current approved CAR-Ts, such as Kymriah, Yescarta, Abecma, Carvykti, etc. are patient specific. The engineered cells are typically frozen down, shipped to the patient’s hospital, and infused into the patient. The turnaround time is often around three weeks, sometimes more.
Once the cells are infused, they rapidly expand and reach peak levels within two weeks of infusion and then decline. The long-term persistence and kinetics are often variable between products, patients, and indications, but CAR-Ts can persist at detectable levels for months to years due to the long lifespan of T cells.
Responses tend to be pretty high for CD19 cancers and multiple myeloma. Many of these patients achieve a complete response or partial clearance within four weeks. In many cases, 40% of lymphoma patients and high numbers of multiple myeloma patients can remain responsive up to two years post-treatment. However, the durability numbers vary. While that’s encouraging, there’s still room for improvement.
https://www.genengnews.com/topics/drug-discovery/driving-the-car-the-road-ahead-for-cell-therapy/
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