Blog #8

According to this article, “T cell immunotherapy or CAR T-cell therapy is a type of cancer therapy that uses a patient’s own modified white blood cells to kill cancer cells.” Through Chimeric Antigen receptor T-cell therapy, T cells are modified in labs so that they can detect and destroy cancer kills. T cells are used because their receptors attach to foreign antigens of intruders, and this triggers the body’s immune system that kills foreign substances. In cancer, patients lack the right receptors that attach to the antigens of cancer in order to set off the body’s immune system that destroys the intruder. According to this article, CAR T-cell therapy is used to fix the lock, or immune receptor, that attaches to the key, or cancer antigens.

Through CAR-T Cell therapy, the t cells from the patient get changed by adding a man-made chimeric antigen receptor cell. This receptor allows them to be able to identify the specific cancer antigen associated with the cancerous disease. For example, the antigen for Leukemia is CD-19. This antigen is used to treat Leukemia only, and no other disease can be detected form this antigen. CAR T- cell therapy can take weeks and starts by the removal of t-cells from the patient through leukapheresis. The patient is required to stay still for 2-3 while the IV draws their blood. After collecting the blood, the t-cells are separated in the lab and CAR is added to them through genetic modification. The patient then receives large quantities of the CAR T-cells through CAR T-Cell infusion. Light chemotherapy is also required to lower the number immune cells already existing so that the CAR T-cells are forced to act on cancerous cells. Once they attack the cancerous cells, they grow in numbers and kill even more cells.

Cytokine release syndrome is a very common side effects of this treatment. Once the CAR t-cells start to replicate, they cause high amount of cytokines to be released in the blood. In effect, the patient develops high fevers and low blood pressure. According to this article, neurotoxicity is another side effect that can lead to brain swelling, confusion, seizures, and severe headaches. CAR T-Cell therapy is extremely expensive; one-time treatment can cost around 373,000!!! Although advances in science have led to us developing newer forms of treatment for patients with cancer, they continue to be very expensive and out of reach for many low income patients.