The new success of CAR T therapy
Modified T-cells have shown good results in the fight against stomach cancer
Scientists at Peking University reported good results achieved during clinical trials of the CAR T cells they created. Interim results of the first phase of clinical trials showed that tumors in almost half — 48.6% — of 37 patients treated decreased after therapy. Although the purpose of the first phase of the trials was only to demonstrate the safety of the method, the researchers believe that genetically modified T-cells demonstrate the potential for the treatment of advanced cancers of the gastrointestinal tract.
The modern method of cancer immunotherapy is based on the creation of CAR T cells (chimaeric antigen receptor, chimeric antigen receptor). T-lymphocytes are taken from the patient, to which the gene of a certain protein — the cell surface receptor - is transmitted in the laboratory with the help of a specially created virus. This receptor is able to selectively bind to cancer cell proteins, thus T-lymphocytes, returning to the patient's body, are already trained to recognize and destroy cancer cells. You can read more about this method in the essay "How to help the immune system". For a number of cancer types, this method has shown very good results in recent years.
A group of researchers led by Lin Shen created CAR T cells targeting tumor cells carrying the protein CLDN18.2. It is found in many types of tumors, but is especially common in tumors of the gastrointestinal tract. Scientists injected cells into 37 patients with late-stage stomach, digestive tract or pancreatic cancer and found that, despite all the side effects, the therapy had an "acceptable safety profile." The treatment seemed to be most effective for patients with stomach cancer: more than 57% of them showed positive changes. The effect of treatment persists for more than six months. The scientists emphasize that the results should be verified during the full study, but say that the interim results suggest that the approach "may become an important method of treating patients with advanced stomach cancer."
The result is notable for the fact that previously CAR-based therapy T-cells have achieved the greatest effect in the treatment of leukemias and lymphomas, but so far have had limited success with solid ("solid") tumors, which make up the majority of cancers.
The study was published in the journal Nature Medicine (Qi et al., Claudin18.2-specific CAR T cells in gastrointestinal cancers: phase 1 trial interim results).
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