Researchers at University Hospitals create a breakthrough in CAR-T cell therapy for cancer patients
They’ve found a way to manufacture CAR-T cells for immunotherapy treatment in 24 to 48 hours, an impactful difference from the previous 5-8 weeks it took.
CAR-T cell therapy is a way to manipulate and re-program the body’s cells to attack cancer cells. One of the limitations is that it takes anywhere between three and five weeks to produce these cells Patients with leukemia, particularly, but also some forms of lymphoma and myeloma are quite ill and they cannot wait for these for that length of time.
In 2018, 65-year-old Jack Boyle went in for his routine doctor’s appointment and opted in for a full body scan. “A day later I got a call saying ‘we found something, a mass on the right side of your neck,’” he recalled. He had an aggressive form of follicular lymphoma. For more than 4 years he tried different treatments: multiple rounds of chemotherapy, oral drugs, radiation, a stem cell transplant. But nothing worked. But then his doctors suggested CAR-T therapy. In August, for the first time in years, his scan was clear.
Dr. van Besien the head of hematology at Seidman hopes with the faster turn around time of manufacturing the CAR-T cells, more patients can feel like the Boyles. “The production within 1 or 2 days, really, will help a substantial proportion of patients who otherwise cannot be helped,” he said. The first clinical trial for the faster turn around time for the CAR-T therapy will begin in November. Dr. van Besien believes if it is successful, it could change the future of immunotherapy.
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