CAR-T cells are an innovative therapy, offering a cure to cancer patients who have not found benefit from traditional treatments. This therapy combines two branches of medicine: cancer immunotherapy and medical engineering. We are talking about a complex process that enhances T lymphocytes and arms them in order to defeat oncological diseases. T lymphocytes are a type of white blood cell that recognises foreign elements in the body. They are the most powerful anti-cancer agent in nature, but they do not always succeed in destroying the enemy. The therapy involves taking T-lymphocytes, separating them from plasma and blood cells, then genetically modifying and multiplying them in the laboratory, and finally injecting them into the patient after careful analysis. In the laboratories, the CAR (Chimeric Antigen Receptor) is introduced into the DNA of the collected T lymphocytes, namely the instructions for finding cancer cells. This is done through the use of viruses, from which all pathogenicity is eliminated in order to construct vectors, which transport the gene information, in this case the CAR, into the T lymphocytes. This new therapy lasts three to four weeks, during which time CAR-T lymphocytes are infused into the patient's bloodstream to attack the cancer cells. Not all patients are eligible for this treatment, as there are special requirements. To date, three therapies have been approved: Kymriah for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, Yescarta for lymphoma and Cilta-Cel for myeloma. The complexity of the therapy means that the cost is high, since it is a personalised therapy for each patient, but recently scientists have been studying a procedure to reduce costs, namely taking lymphocytes from a healthy donor and then producing several batches that will go to several patients. It's amazing how every year research manages to make progress and discover more and more about the diseases that afflict us.
Mariacarla Frippa