By: David Wu, MD
New immunotherapy clinical trials are currently running using a person’s T-cells from their own body to fight their cancer. The idea behind the trials is to produce T-cells that have been reprogrammed using stem cell technology to target and destroy cancerous cells. Mass producing unlimited quantities of these cancer-fighting cells that resemble natural T-cells resulted in cancer being completely eliminated in some patients. These T-cells are called chimeric antigen receptor T-cells (CAR T-cells).
Healthy Cell vs. Cancerous Cell
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T-cells live in our bodies. They are healthy immune cells designed specifically to fight off viruses, diseases and sometimes cancerous cells. They work in conjunction with B cells which secret antibodies against foreign antigens. T cells need to be activated for them to fight out invaders such as viruses or cancer cells, including B cell cancers.
Process
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Healthy T-cells are collected from a patient’s blood and reengineered in a laboratory to recognize and attach themselves to a protein that is found only on the surface of the B-cell cancer from the specific type of cancer a patient has.
In the laboratory, about 10 billion CAR T-cells can be made in about 10 days. Once these T-cells have been manufactured they are then injected back into the patient. The reengineered cells will then multiply in the body. They will attach to and kill the rapidly dividing B-cells and so far have remained in the body long after the cancer is gone, to continue fighting any new cancerous B-cells.
This is a very exciting development for clinical trials! Today, physicians are learning to use person’s own immune system, which had previously failed them (resulting in the development of the cancerous disease), to fight off cancer cells in the body! Soon, after validation and safety evaluation of this new medical advance, engineering T cells can be a powerful weapon against cancer.
David Wu, M.D., a Medical Oncologist with Diablo Valley Oncology. He practices at the California Cancer and Research Institute in Pleasant Hill. For more information, call 925-677-5041.
