T cells are one of the body’s most important defenders, able to recognize and kill off viruses, bacteria, parasites, and even cancer cells. Cancers employ a variety of strategies to evade these cells, but in recent years, scientists have developed new treatments that try to give the immune system a better fighting chance. One of these treatments is known as, which genetically modifies someone’s T cells in the lab to turn them into more potent cancer killers.
The current method uses T cells derived from cancer patients themselves. As effective as it can be, it’s also costly and time-consuming, since the cells have to be cultivated and then grown en masse before they can be given back to the patient. Researchers at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and elsewhere have been working on a potential alternative: off-the-shelf CAR T cells derived from healthy donors.
“The main takeaway is that an allogeneic CAR T cell therapy is feasible, has a reasonable safety profile, and can lead to durable remissions in patients with advanced multiple myeloma,” lead author Sham Mailankody, a physician and clinical director of Cellular Therapy Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, told Gizmodo. “This is the very first trial of allogeneic CAR T cells in myeloma and therefore a significant milestone in the development of CAR T cell therapies in oncology.