Cell and Gene Therapy

Track 12: CAR T-cell therapy

In CAR T-cell therapy, T cells are extracted from the patient's blood and altered in the laboratory by adding a gene for a receptor (known as a chimeric antigen receptor, or CAR), which aids the T cells in adhering to a particular cancer cell antigen. The patient is subsequently given their CAR T cells back.

Each CAR is created for a particular cancer's antigen since many malignancies have various antigens. For instance, the cancer cells in some types of leukaemia or lymphoma express the antigen CD19. The CAR T-cell treatments used to treat these tumours are designed to bind to the CD19 antigen and will not be effective against tumours lacking this antigen.