CAR-T Cell Therapy to get Evaluated for Hidden Applications in Case of Hematogical Malignancies

Release Date: 17-Nov-2020

CAR-T cell therapy is one of the most important and therapeutic treatment available for the patients suffering from various hematologic malignancies in recent times. The whole concept of the therapy is dependent on reprograming of the T cells against the cancer cells found in the body. But one of the major disadvantage of the therapy is that in a subset of patients, the therapy cause relapse of the disease, which has now become one of the most discussed therapeutic challenge.

Now, a group of researchers from Zhengzhou University are focusing on overcoming the challenge by studying the complete response data. It was found by the researchers that the patients suffering from B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the complete response range was recorded between 60-90%. But out of the 60-90% of the population that received complete response, 30-50% of patients always undergo relapse. In all the hematologic malignancies, relapse rate of the patients was one of the most complex challenge to overcome.

All the mechanism of relapse that was recorded by the group of researchers was further divided into two different categories i.e. antigen-positive relapses and antigen-negative relapses. In the antigen-positive relapses, there was a lack of persistence of CAR T cells, whereas the other category was not fully understood by the patients. One oof the solution that was given by the researchers was to improve the design of the CAR-T cells so that they become more potent in killing the cancer cells.

In addition to this, researchers are also focused to replace the CAR single-chain variable fragment (scFv) with fully human CARs. It is estimated that by performing such changes, the disadvantages associated with CAR-T cell therapy could be overcome. Another important strategy discussed by the researchers is the development of armored CAR-T cells. Researchers are also inclined towards combining the therapy with other therapies for improving the efficacy of the therapy in the patients. As per the researchers working on the clinical research study, there are hundreds of possibilities that could further develop the therapy in order to deliver best possible results in the patients who are in urgent need of the therapy.