8 times faster
Researchers from the Seidman Cancer Center at University Hospitals, USA, have developed a revolutionary way to speed up and simplify the preparation of CAR-T cells. Moreover, according to the authors' observations, rapidly produced CAR T cells are more effective than cells manufactured in the traditional way.
Time matters
About 25% of cancer patients who are scheduled for immunotherapy expect to manufacture CAR-T cells for more than three weeks. At this time, their disease is inexorably progressing, and the more courses of treatment the patient undergoes, the less sensitive he becomes to chemotherapy. Therefore, optimizing the production process and creating a more efficient product is very important.
What is CAR-T therapy?
CAR-T therapy, or therapy with genetically modified lymphocytes with chimeric antigen receptors, is a relatively young and very promising direction in the immunotherapy of oncological diseases. The essence of the method is to "train" the patient's lymphocytes to search for cancer cells using chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) that bind to markers on the surface of cancer cells.
Preclinical success
The group changed lymphocytes outside the body with an inactivated lentivirus. The resulting CAR-T cells were named UF-KURE19. In animal studies, they were more effective than cells made using standard processes.
Clinical trials will begin soon
In November, the Seidman Cancer Center, together with the Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic, will launch Phase 1 clinical trials of CAR-T cells of rapid production of UF-KURE19. The study will test the safety of cells in adult patients with recurrent or refractory non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. If successful, the group plans to expand the study and test rapidly produced UF-KURE19 on patients with other oncological diseases.
Accessibility for everyone
By developing this technology, the research team has made every effort to make the production process simple and inexpensive, and therefore accessible to hospitals without expensive equipment around the world.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of University Hospitals: University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center Researchers Slash Time Needed to Produce CAR-T-Cells.