Wednesday, October 02, 2019 An emerging form of immunotherapy, called adoptive cell transfer, has the potential to transform the way in which cancers are treated. Adoptive cell therapy involves taking a patient’s immune cells from their blood, and modifying them in a lab so they can target cancer cells more effectively — enhancing the patient’s immune system to fight cancer. In the seven years since the initial Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy trials were started, two of these therapies are already being used to treat some aggressive forms of leukemia and lymphoma. However, these therapies are very costly and only available to a small number of Canadian patients. Researchers are considering the possibility that CAR T-cells could displace current standard treatments, such as stem cell transplantation and chemotherapy. “There is tremendous excitement about these therapies that are demonstrating meaningful and lifesaving remissions for some people in whom chemotherapy and stem cell transplants have not worked. However, we have to face the reality of the current costs of this treatment and lack of accessibility in Canada.” For more: https://www.ctg.queensu.ca/cctg_news/cell-therapy%E2%80%99s-promise-canadians-must-include-access
