CAR T-cell Therapy May Thwart Numerous Myeloma
MONDAY, June Five, two thousand seventeen — Genetically tuning a person’s own immune cells to target cancer shows up to provide long-lasting protection against a blood cancer called numerous myeloma, an early trial from China shows.
The treatment, called CAR T-cell therapy, caused thirty three out of thirty five patients with recurring numerous myeloma to either come in total remission or practice a significant reduction in their cancer.
The results are “extraordinaire,” said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society.
“These are patients who have had prior treatment and had their disease comeback, and one hundred percent of the patients are reported to have had some form of meaningful response to these cells that were administered,” Lichtenfeld said.
The fresh therapy is custom-made for each patient. Doctors collect the patient’s own T-cells — one of the immune system’s main cell types — and genetically reprogram them to target and attack abnormal numerous myeloma cells.
Lead researcher Dr. Wanhong Zhao likened the process to fitting immune cells with a GPS that steers them to cancer cells — making them into professional killers that never miss their target.
Zhao is associate director of hematology at the 2nd Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University in Xi’an, China.
CAR T-cell therapy is promising because the genetically altered T-cells are expected to roost in a person’s assets, multiplying and providing long-term protection, Lichtenfeld said.
“The theory is they should attack the tumor and proceed to grow to become a long-term monitoring and treatment system,” Lichtenfeld said. “It’s not a one-shot deal.”
The technology represents the next step forward in immunotherapy for cancer, said Dr. Michael Sabel, chief of surgical oncology at the University of Michigan.
“Immunotherapy is now indeed providing hope to a lot of patients with cancers that were not indeed responding to our standard chemotherapies,” Sabel said.
CAR T-cell therapy previously has been used to treat lymphoma and lymphocytic leukemia, Lichtenfeld said.
Zhao and his colleagues determined to attempt the therapy to treat numerous myeloma. They re-engineered the patients’ T-cells and then reintroduced them to the figure in three infusions performed within one week.
Numerous myeloma is a cancer that occurs in plasma cells, which are mainly found in bone marrow and produce antibodies to fight infections. About 30,300 people will likely be diagnosed with numerous myeloma this year in the United States, researchers said in background notes.
“Numerous myeloma is a disease that historically was fatal in the course of a duo of years,” Lichtenfeld said. During the past two decades, fresh breakthroughs have extended survival out ten to fifteen years in some patients, he noted.
To date, nineteen of the very first thirty five Chinese patients have been followed for more than four months, researchers report.
Fourteen of those nineteen patients have reached the highest level of remission, researchers report. There hasn’t been a relapse among any of these patients, including five followed for more than a year.
“That’s as far as you can go in terms of driving down the amount of tumor that’s in the figure,” Lichtenfeld said.
Out of the remaining five patients, one experienced a partial response and four a very good response, researchers said.
However, about eighty five percent of the patients experienced cytokine release syndrome (CRS), a potentially dangerous side effect of CAR T-cell therapy.
Symptoms of cytokine release syndrome can include fever, low blood pressure, difficulty breathing, and impaired organ function, the researchers said. However, most of the patients experienced only transient symptoms, and “now we have drugs to treat it,” Lichtenfeld said.
History suggests the therapy will cost a lot if it receives approval, Lichtenfeld said. However, prior to approval, much more research will be needed, he added.
The Chinese research team plans to enroll a total of one hundred patients in this clinical trial at four hospitals in China. They also plan a similar clinical trial in the United States by 2018, Zhao said.
The examine was funded by Nanjing Legend Biotech Co., the Chinese rigid developing the technology.
The findings were introduced Monday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, in Chicago. Data and conclusions introduced at meetings are usually considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
For more on numerous myeloma, visit the American Cancer Society.
CAR T-cell Therapy May Thwart Numerous Myeloma
CAR T-cell Therapy May Thwart Numerous Myeloma
MONDAY, June Five, two thousand seventeen — Genetically tuning a person’s own immune cells to target cancer emerges to provide long-lasting protection against a blood cancer called numerous myeloma, an early trial from China shows.
The treatment, called CAR T-cell therapy, caused thirty three out of thirty five patients with recurring numerous myeloma to either come in total remission or practice a significant reduction in their cancer.
The results are “amazing,” said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society.
“These are patients who have had prior treatment and had their disease come back, and one hundred percent of the patients are reported to have had some form of meaningful response to these cells that were administered,” Lichtenfeld said.
The fresh therapy is custom-made for each patient. Doctors collect the patient’s own T-cells — one of the immune system’s main cell types — and genetically reprogram them to target and attack abnormal numerous myeloma cells.
Lead researcher Dr. Wanhong Zhao likened the process to fitting immune cells with a GPS that steers them to cancer cells — making them into professional killers that never miss their target.
Zhao is associate director of hematology at the 2nd Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University in Xi’an, China.
CAR T-cell therapy is promising because the genetically altered T-cells are expected to roost in a person’s bod, multiplying and providing long-term protection, Lichtenfeld said.
“The theory is they should attack the tumor and proceed to grow to become a long-term monitoring and treatment system,” Lichtenfeld said. “It’s not a one-shot deal.”
The technology represents the next step forward in immunotherapy for cancer, said Dr. Michael Sabel, chief of surgical oncology at the University of Michigan.
“Immunotherapy is now truly providing hope to a lot of patients with cancers that were not indeed responding to our standard chemotherapies,” Sabel said.
CAR T-cell therapy previously has been used to treat lymphoma and lymphocytic leukemia, Lichtenfeld said.
Zhao and his colleagues determined to attempt the therapy to treat numerous myeloma. They re-engineered the patients’ T-cells and then reintroduced them to the bod in three infusions performed within one week.
Numerous myeloma is a cancer that occurs in plasma cells, which are mainly found in bone marrow and produce antibodies to fight infections. About 30,300 people will likely be diagnosed with numerous myeloma this year in the United States, researchers said in background notes.
“Numerous myeloma is a disease that historically was fatal in the course of a duo of years,” Lichtenfeld said. During the past two decades, fresh breakthroughs have extended survival out ten to fifteen years in some patients, he noted.
To date, nineteen of the very first thirty five Chinese patients have been followed for more than four months, researchers report.
Fourteen of those nineteen patients have reached the highest level of remission, researchers report. There hasn’t been a relapse among any of these patients, including five followed for more than a year.
“That’s as far as you can go in terms of driving down the amount of tumor that’s in the figure,” Lichtenfeld said.
Out of the remaining five patients, one experienced a partial response and four a very good response, researchers said.
However, about eighty five percent of the patients experienced cytokine release syndrome (CRS), a potentially dangerous side effect of CAR T-cell therapy.
Symptoms of cytokine release syndrome can include fever, low blood pressure, difficulty breathing, and impaired organ function, the researchers said. However, most of the patients experienced only transient symptoms, and “now we have drugs to treat it,” Lichtenfeld said.
History suggests the therapy will cost a lot if it receives approval, Lichtenfeld said. However, prior to approval, much more research will be needed, he added.
The Chinese research team plans to enroll a total of one hundred patients in this clinical trial at four hospitals in China. They also plan a similar clinical trial in the United States by 2018, Zhao said.
The probe was funded by Nanjing Legend Biotech Co., the Chinese rock hard developing the technology.
The findings were introduced Monday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, in Chicago. Data and conclusions introduced at meetings are usually considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
For more on numerous myeloma, visit the American Cancer Society.