Best Life: CAR T-cell therapy [Video]

ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – In 2017, the FDA approved the first CAR T-cell therapy.

Medical experts call it a ‘breakthrough’ and ‘game-changer’ when it comes to cancer treatment. Now, it’s issuing a warning.

“Immunotherapy has really come on as quite an advance in cancer care,” said Frederick Locke, MD, Dir., Immune Cell Therapy Program at Moffitt Cancer Center.

CAR T-cell therapy is a type of cellular immunotherapy used for patients with certain types of leukemias and lymphomas, as well as multiple myeloma. It uses the patient’s immune system cells to attack cancer cells.

“The blood comes out. It goes through a machine that removes the T-cells that we are interested in, and the blood is returned to the patient,” said Doctor Locke.

The T-cells are then sent to a lab to be engineered into car T-cells. After a few weeks, they are returned to the patient’s bloodstream, where they …