How Much Do You Know about CAR-T Cell Therapy?
Cancer has been a formidable foe for medical science for a long time. However, a revolutionary technology known as Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy has recently emerged and is offering a potential solution to combat certain types of cancer. This essay will provide an easy-to-understand overview of CAR-T cell therapy, shedding light on its potential to improve patient outcomes and transform cancer treatment.
CAR-T Cell Therapy is a type of immunotherapy that is used to treat cancer. It involves the modification of a patient's own T-cells, which are a type of white blood cells that make up part of the body's immune system, to recognize and attack cancer cells. CAR-T Cell Therapy is currently the only FDA-approved gene-modified therapy for many types of blood cancers. The story of CAR-T Cell Therapy dates back to 1989 when Zelenetz and his team demonstrated that T cell receptors could be expressed on the surface of certain cancer cells, which formed the basis for chimeric antigen receptors (CARs). This concept was developed over the following two decades, leading to the regimen of CAR-T cell therapy seen today. The core principle underlying CAR-T is to identify a molecule or protein (antigen) on the surface of cancer cells and design a gene-modified T-cell with the ability to recognize and attack those cancer cells. To do this, the CAR-T cell is engineered with a modified virus using a receptor known as a CAR, which is made up of both a cancer-specific targeting antibody and a T cell affinity signaling domain, so as to enable the cell to recognize and target the cancer cells. The resultant CAR-T cells are processed and injected back into the