The importance of CAR-T Cell therapy in the treatment of blood cancers
Blood cancer and CAR T-Cell therapy
Leukemia and other blood cancers have always posed a significant risk to people's lives and health. According to data, China had 4.57 million cancer cases and deaths in 2020, with leukemia accounting for 62000 and lymphoma accounting for 57000. However, blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma are not treatable diseases. Huazhong University of Science and Technology Tongji Medical College Affiliated Union Hospital has developed a cell therapy known as the "anti-cancer miracle drug" that uses the patient's own immune cells to eliminate cancer cells. So, what technology is CAR-T cell therapy? Can CAR-T cell therapy truly heal blood tumors? Professor Hu Yu, director of Peking Union Medical College Hospital, responded to this inquiry.
T cells are the primary force of the human immune system, and one of their primary functions is to eliminate and fight cancer cells; nevertheless, they are unlikely to be able to target individual cancer cells. CAR-T cell therapy is the procedure of removing T cells from a patient's body, genetically altering them in the laboratory so that they can expand moderately in vitro, and then reinfusing them back into the patient's body. The modified T cells are better able to spot cancer cells and kill them. At the same time, it can cause a considerable increase in CAR-T cells in the body, providing enough troops to attack cancer cells.
According to Hu Yu, CAR-T therapy needles represent a technological revolution in comparison to standard treatment. It has the ability to survive in the body for an extended period of time after a single cell injection. It can also grow and expand in enormous numbers when stimulated by malignancies, resulting in a deadly effect. CAR-T offers a wide range of applications and can generate several CARs dependent on tumor targets. As a result, its ability to eliminate cancers is not confined to a certain type of tumor.
Hu Yu noted that hematological malignancies are a major threat to human health. In China, the overall treatment condition for hematological malignancies is improving. CAR-T treatment can achieve an overall response rate of more than 90% in patients with refractory and recurrent acute lymphoid leukemia. However, myeloid leukemia progresses slowly, with a 5-year survival probability of less than 30% for some readily relapsed cases. So there is still a long way to go in the treatment of blood cancers, and increased efforts are required.
Hu Yu believes that CAR-T therapy, as a new medicine, is extremely important in enhancing overall efficacy and relieving patient suffering. Hu Yu shown that, in addition to the common expression of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, CD19 has been shown to have excellent therapeutic effects. China's self-developed treatments for plasma cell or multiple myeloma cell illnesses are also aimed at BCMA and will be available for use in the market. Peking Union Medical College Hospital tested CAR-T for BCMA and CS1 dual target myeloma, with a 100% response rate.
According to the properties of this medicine, the second benefit it provides is improved patient compliance. A single cell input can survive for a long period and grow in the body, while the treatment takes a long time to take effect. Patients are relieved of the agony associated with injections and intubations, and their quality of life improves. (Li Xiaodi, Zhao Mengqi, and Wu Wenhua).
