CAR T-cell Therapy

17.03.2025

CAR T-cell Therapy

Why in the news?   

The clinical trial results of India’s first CAR T-cell therapy, published in The Lancet, show that it worked for nearly 73 percent of patients.

About CAR T-cell Therapy:

• CAR T-cell therapy, or chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, trains the body’s own immune cells to identify and destroy cancer cells.
• This treatment is designed for specific types of blood cancer and is given to patients whose cancer has either relapsed or not responded to first-line treatment.

How does the therapy work?

• For any CAR T-cell therapy, a patient’s immune T-cells are collected by filtering their blood.
• These cells are then engineered in a lab to add receptors that can bind with cancer cells. These cells are then multiplied and infused in the patient.
• Usually, the cancer cells are adept at evading the unmodified T cells.
• The treatment developed in India is meant for patients with two types of blood cancers that affect the B cells — acute lymphoblastic leukemia and large B cell lymphomas.

Side Effects of CAR T Therapy

• A serious immune overreaction causing hyperinflammation and organ damage, seen in 12% of participants, resulting in at least one death.
• Low red blood cell count, reported in 61% of participants, causing fatigue and weakness.
• Thrombocytopenia: Low platelet count, increasing the risk of bleeding, reported in 65% of patients.
• Neutropenia: Low neutrophil count, seen in 96% of participants, raising the risk of infections.

                                     Source:Indian Express

Consider the following with respect to CAR T-cell Therapy:

1. It trains the body’s own immune cells to identify and destroy cancer cells.

2. A patient’s immune T-cells are collected by filtering their blood.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

A.1 only

B.2 only

C.Both 1 and 2

D.Neither 1 nor 2

Answer  C