With advances in genetic research, new hopes are emerging in cancer treatment. Developed methods have become applicable in humans. So, what is CAR-T cell therapy? We visited a center working in this field.
According to World Health Organization data, in 2020, 10 million people worldwide died from cancer, and approximately one in six deaths was due to cancer.
A new method against cancer: CAR-T cell therapy
CAR-T cell therapy is regarded as a groundbreaking method in the fight against cancer. Many centers around the world and in Turkey are continuing their efforts to develop this treatment. Üsküdar Üniversitesi Transgenic Cell Technologies Center (TRGENMER) is one of them.
TRGENMER Director Dr. Cihan Taştan begins by explaining, “Instead of classical chemotherapy drugs that have been used for many years against cancer, methods we call smart drugs or living drugs have now been developed with the advancement of genetic studies. These methods have become applicable to humans in recent years after receiving FDA or EMA approval.”
Personalized cancer treatment
Taştan states the following about the CAR-T cell therapy they developed:
“The CAR-T cell therapy we developed against cancer is personalized and has the ability to recognize and kill cancer cells. Compared to traditional cancer treatments, it is more specific and targeted, having the potential to kill all of a patient's cancer at once. This gives hope for the patient to fully recover from cancer.”
How is CAR-T cell therapy applied?
CAR-T cells are essentially genetically modified immune system cells. We discuss with Taştan how this method is applied. The broadest outline is as follows:
Healthy immune cells found in the human body are taken, T cells are isolated, the genetics of the cells are enhanced, genetically modified T cells, which have now become living drugs, are multiplied and given to the patient. And CAR-T cells begin their mission.
In which cancer types can it be applied?
CAR-T cell therapy can be applied in dozens of different cancer types. Taştan explains:
“In the initial phase, approved drugs were developed for hematological cancers, which we can call blood cancers. Success rates of over 80 percent, sometimes reaching 100 percent, were achieved in hematological cancers.
The first hero of CAR-T cell therapy technology is a woman named Emily. And despite receiving many classical treatment methods like chemotherapy and radiotherapy, with all hopes lost in the final stage, she received CAR-T cell therapy and has been living completely cancer-free for 10 years. Indeed, with this study, smart living drugs began to be developed for dozens of different cancer types all over the world.”
Taştan and his team are working on many types of cancer, especially blood cancer:
“The first soldier cells we developed as a laboratory are against Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, known as ALL blood cancer. Besides that, we have also developed new genetic designs for diseases such as solid tumor cancers, glioma, and brain cancers. These will be new treatment methods that will enter the clinic consecutively.”
Cell memory is enhanced
In the conducted studies, one of the main goals is to prevent cancer recurrence. Therefore, the ‘memory cell potential’ is enhanced in the developed cells.
“Normally, we can produce soldier cells and we know that we can clearly kill cancer. When giving these cells to the patient, we made sure they are both soldier and memory cells. Thus, after completely eradicating cancer from the patient in the initial stages, we aim to create a patient potential that remains cancer-free for many years by increasing the memory cell potential to prevent the patient from needing treatment again in future years.”
Clinical trials to begin in July 2023
Taştan states that after one year of work, they can clearly kill cancer by producing smart and living cells. The second phase of the study is being applied to animals. The third phase will begin in 2023:
“We are planning the third phase for July 2023. We will enter clinical stages and begin a period where Turkey can use smart living drugs, which we call CAR-T cells, for specific cancer types.”
Why is the production of this treatment important in Turkey? Taştan explains:
“In Turkey, there are many diseases, especially those with genetic transmission. Cancer is one of them. Abroad, equivalents of these treatments cost up to millions of dollars. We can produce these much more cheaply and promise to apply them to patients. This will make Turkey one of the leading countries in the fields of healthcare, personalized treatment, and genetic therapies in the coming years.”