It Is Not A Dream to Cure Cancer with CAR-T Immunotherapy

What is CAR-T?

CAR-T, Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Immunotherapy, is a new cell therapy that is improved in recent years. Like other immunotherapies, its basic principle is to clear cancer cells with patient's own immune cells. The difference is that this is a cell therapy, rather than a drug.

Five steps of CAR-T treatment:

1.Isolate immune T cells from cancer patients;

2.Using genetic engineering technology to add a chimeric antibody on T cells, so that they can be activated to kill tumor cells. At that time, CAR T cell proliferation is starting;

3.In vitro culture, a large number of CAR-T cells are replicated (the larger the size, the more cells are needed);4.To transfer the amplified CAR-T cells back to the patient;

5.Monitor the patient and pay more attention to patient’s violent reactions in first days.

Until CAR-T appears!

The first people receiving CAR-T treatment are 30 patients with leukemia. They are not common leukemia patients. They had experienced a variety of possible treatments, including chemotherapy and targeted therapy, and 15 of them accepted bone marrow transplant, but failed at last. Usually, their survival time can't be more than half a year.

The results of this group of people shocked the world: cancer cells of 27 patients completely disappeared after treatment! After six months, 20 patients still had not be found any cancer cells!

Can we really cure cancer?

Since only two years time that CAR-T is used in clinic, it is too early to tell if it can completely cure cancer. While at least it's early success is unprecedented. We should be patient, and continue to improve the technology. There is definitely a reason to continue to look forward to more good news.

CAR-T is not perfect. Patients who receive CAR-T therapy have a huge clinical risk: cytokine storm, also called cytokine release syndrome. At cytokine release test, when T cells kill other cells, such as bacteria and viruses, will release a lot of proteins, called cytokines. The role of those proteins is to activate more immune cells to fight these pathogens, to ensure the rapid clearance of pathogens. This is the inflammation in clinical response. Since CAR-T kill cancer cells too fast and too effective, in a moment large number of cytokines are produced in the local part, causing amazing immune response, which is the cytokine storm. Clinical manifestations of patients is high fever. If it can not be controlled, it is impossible to save the patient. That's why the last step in CAR-T is to monitor patients, which is actually very critical.

Due to the lack of preparation, several patients who received CAR-T had a fever for a long time to remain unconscious. Fortunately, the use of anti - inflammatory drugs had controlled, and if there was a patient died, maybe CAR-T would not continue. Now, of course, the clinical experience has been rich, and the storm can been prepared in advance.

Creative Biolabs was founded by scientists who are dedicated to conquering cancer, optimizing the drug development process, leveraging accessible resources.