CAR-E: Preventing Relapse After CAR T-cell Therapy

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BOSTON, Mass. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — CAR T-cell therapy has revolutionized the treatment of certain blood cancers — including leukemias, lymphomas and multiple myeloma. CAR T-cells are genetically enhanced versions of a patient’s own cancer-fighting T cells — offering a personalized approach that targets and destroys tumor cells. However, one significant challenge — this therapy has a high rate of relapse, even in patients who first achieve complete remission. Now, a novel approach is helping to keep patients’ cancer-free for longer.

First there was chemo — then radiation — and now — CAR T-cell therapy — one of the newest ways to track down and kill cancer!

Mohammad Rashidian, PhD of the Department of Cancer Immunology and Virology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School explained, “You take some blood from patients, you take the immune cells out specifically T cells, and then you engineer them so that they recognize tumor cells and then you put them back.”

But for many, CAR T-cell therapy is not a permanent solution.

“Almost everyone will initially respond. A lot of patients becomes tumor free in terms of you can’t detect anything. But then unfortunately they start relapsing down the road,” said Rashidian.

He says that’s because the CAR T cells become exhausted, they stop tracking down and killing cancer cells. Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have developed a new technique: CAR-enhancers or CAR-E that could make CAR T cells stay active, longer.

“And ideally we want them to form memory so that they’ll ensure that the cancer will not relapse,” explained Rashidian.

CAR T-cell therapies do not work on solid tumors and are often used later in treatment because they’re personalized, expensive, and have side effects. Researchers are working to make them more accessible, safer and to secure sufficient funding to initiate a phase I clinical trial. The new CAR-E therapy clinical trial will focus on safety, dosage, and schedule. Treatments start a month after CAR T-cell infusion and last three to four weeks.

Contributors to this news report include: Marsha Lewis, Producer; Matt Goldschmidt, Videographer; Roque Correa, Editor.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE GO TO https://rashidianlab.dana-farber.org/contact-us.html

If this story or any other Ivanhoe story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Marjorie Bekaert Thomas at mthomas@ivanhoe.com