Without cytokine storm

Scientists have improved CAR-T therapy for the treatment of cancer, eliminating its main side effect and making treatment safer and more accessible on an outpatient basis.

CAR-T therapy is the collection of immune T cells from the patient's blood, and then their modification into chimeric antigen receptors (chimeric antigen receptors, CARs).

The modified T cells are injected into the patient's body, where the modified receptors allow them to kill cancer cells by recognizing and blocking them.

This method of treatment was approved by the FDA less than two years ago and became a salvation for people with leukemia and lymphoma, literally pulling them out of the world into long-term remission. The only drawback of this method is that the treatment causes serious side effects that sometimes pose a threat to life. Side effects are caused by the rapid proliferation of CAR-T cells, which entails a so-called cytokine storm. Acute cytokine release syndrome can lead to multiple organ failure and brain edema.

In an improved treatment method, the researchers changed the sequence and shape of CAR molecules. As a result, T cells kill cancer cells, but multiply more slowly and produce fewer cytokines, giving the body more time to purify the blood.

According to the results of the study, in 25 patients with recurrent lymphoma, the new version of therapy did not cause serious side effects, and 6 out of 11 participants entered complete remission.

In the future, scientists are going to conduct a multicenter phase II study to test the safety and effectiveness of the method on a larger sample of patients.

A color scanning electron micrograph shows a T cell (red) attached to a cancer cell.

Article by Zhitao Ying et al. A safe and potent anti-CD19 CAR T cell therapy is published in the journal Nature Medicine.

Elena Panasyuk, portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru / based on USC News: USC-led advance in groundbreaking cancer treatment eliminates severe side effects