A person’s immune system is designed to fight all kinds of diseases.
It’s pretty amazing really—but sometimes, it needs help.
Immunotherapy works with the body’s immune system to treat diseases, including cancer.
One kind of immunotherapy, called chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, or CAR-T,
is already approved to treat certain kinds of lymphoma and leukemia that haven’t responded
to other treatments.
How does CAR-T work?
It uses the patient’s own T-cells, special white blood cells called the workhorses of
the immune system.
T-cells cruise around the body attacking diseased cells.
But cancer cells can change in ways that make them hard for T-cells to recognize.
That’s where CAR-T cell therapy comes in.
First, blood is drawn and put in a machine that isolates the T-cells.
They’re sent to a lab and mixed with a disabled virus.
That causes the T-cells to grow a special receptor called a chimeric antigen receptor.
This empowers them to recognize cancer cells and latch onto them.
Millions of these CAR-T cells are grown in the lab, then they’re infused back into
the patient’s body, where they seek out and destroy cancer cells.
Like other cancer treatments, CAR-T cell therapy does have side effects.
A hospital stay can be expected followed by outpatient visits to treat side effects and
monitor progress.
CAR-T cell therapy is a breakthrough, and it’s being tested on other kinds of cancer.
Penn State Cancer Institute is on the frontlines of the war on cancer, and we wage it every
day, right here in central Pennsylvania.
Find out more at cancer.psu.edu/CAR-T. Penn State Cancer Institute.
Bringing hope closer to home.