Medical Breakthroughs: New therapy destroying cancer cells
A new therapy is now a way to track down and kill cancer in the body.
According to Penn Medicine, CAR T Cell therapy uses immune cells — called T cells — that are genetically altered in a lab to enable them in locating in destroying cancer cells more effectively.
“You take some blood from patients, you take the immune cells out — specifically T cells — and then you engineer them so that they recognize tumor cells, and then you put them back,” Dr. Mohammad Rashidian with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
But for many, Car T Cell therapy is not a permanent solution.
“Almost everyone will initially respond. A lot of patients become tumor free in terms of you can't detect anything, but then unfortunately they start relapsing down the road,” Rashidian said.
According to Rashidian, Car T Cells become exhausted and stop tracking down and killing cancer cells. Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have developed a new technique: Car-Enhancers, or Car-E, that could make Car T cells stay active, longer.
Watch the video above for the full story.