A Look at How CAR-T Cell Therapy Works

(30 Aug 2017) The immune system defends the body against disease.
T-cells are one of its key soldiers, targeting infected or abnormal cells but cancer can block those defenses.
Now scientists are genetically modifying patients own cells to make them smarter and tougher at seeking out and destroying cancer.
One version is called CAR-T cell therapy, T-cells customized to zero in on a patients specific kind of cancer.
It all starts when a patient's blood is filtered through a machine that separates T-cells and other white blood cells from the rest.
Scientists mix the collected T-cells with a virus which is disabled, so it won't cause illness.
Instead that virus carries genetic instructions for the T-cells to grow an artificial receptor, called a "chimeric antigen receptor", or CAR that will track its cancer target and rev up for an attack.
Millions of copies of the engineered cell are grown in a laboratory, and given back to the patient intravenously.
The first CAR-T cells are being tested against types of leukemia and lymphoma that bare a marker or antigen named CD19.
Once in the blood stream those home in on that antigen and grab hold they release toxic chemicals that trigger a cells death.
As one cancer cell dies, CAR-T cells move on to the next multiplying in the blood, until they are no longer needed.

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