The National Cancer Institute, the leading cancer research organization in the United States, put up this video a few days ago on CAR-T.
It's pretty interesting. And since the last two posts I have written were about CAR-T, I was hoping this one would make a perfect third. Given the title, "Manufacturing CAR T Cells to Accelerate Cancer Immunotherapy Research," I was hoping it would explain how CAR-T cells are made. If you look at any Lympho Bob post about CAR-T, I always skip over the part about what happens between taking the T cells from the patient and then putting them back in.
Alas, when the video gets to that part, the voice over says, "If that sounds complex, that's because it is."
Hmm. Not much help.
But what is helpful is what they have to say about the future of CAR-T.
Right now, there aren't many places in the U.S. that can make CAR-T cells. As you might imagine, it takes a special kind of lab to do something like this.
The NCI, being a part of the federal government, has been an important part of creating a central place where CAR-T cells can be made. Cells that are taken from the patient can be sent to the NCI, where they can be changed and sent back to the patient in about 7 days. For comparison, the article on the ZUMA-5 trial that I posted a few days ago said the media time to get cells back to the patient was about 17 days. Big improvement. One large facility can do the job better than a bunch of small ones.
The video says this is "baby steps" and that more work will need to be done to refine the system.
But it does seem like a step forward. Right now, making it easier to manufacture CAR-T cells means more hospitals can take part in clinical trials. Eventually, that should man CAR-T can get to more people with more types of cancer.
But I would hope that it could also mean it will become less expensive. We'll see.
Whatever the case, it's more evidence that the excitement about CAR-T was justified, and more resources are being put into making it better, cheaper, and more widely available.
And that's good for all of us.
Was diagnosed with follicular lymphoma last week..met with oncogist today who said we will watch it as fortunate its limited disease...I'm un easy with this idea...I am a survivor of testicular cancer 1n 1995...
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I'm sure it isn't easy, even with your "cancer experience" -- might even be worse.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who watched and waited for two years before receiving treatment, I understand how uneasy it can be. If that's what your doctor recommends, it means the cancer is growing slowly enough that you can hold off for now, until symptoms show up that make treatment necessary. It does take some time to wrap your head around it, but most FL patients I have talked to who watched and waited were glad they did, myself included.
On the other hand, while your physical symptoms might be mild (or maybe you don't have any at all), your emotional symptoms shouldn't be ignored. If the idea of W & W continues to make you uneasy, tell your doctor, and talk about less-aggressive treatments that might hep you feel like you're doing something about the cancer but won't necessarily result in the kind of side effects (short-term and long-term) that you would get from traditional chemo. I eventually had Rituxan, a monoclonal antibody, which has worked for me for 11 years. There are other options as well.
You can search the blog for more on watching and waiting (more on my experiences, and some research), and I'm happy to talk more by email if you want. My address is in my profile.
Good luck. Keep us updated.
Bob