Abramson Developing CAR T-Cell Therapy for Mesothelioma

The National Cancer Institute awarded a five-year, $10.7 million grant to the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania to develop CAR T-cell therapy for mesothelioma and lung cancer. The hopes are high for a breakthrough. The program involves a laboratory modification of a patient’s T cells — a type of white blood cell — that prompts the immune system to attack cancer cells. The therapy also is known as chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy. It already is revolutionizing the way some blood and bone marrow cancers are treated. The grant is designed to investigate whether this type of gene therapy can do the same for solid tumors such as mesothelioma. “CAR T cells have completely changed the way we treat leukemia, so the hope is that yes, over the next decade we can change the way we treat these tumors,” Dr. Steven Albelda, principal investigator for the grant and director of Lung Research, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at UPenn, told The Mesothelioma Center at Asbestos.com. “The potential is there.” Project Involves Clinical Trials for Patients The grant will be used for three related projects, all of which focus on fine-tuning CAR T cells to stimulate the immune cells into recognizing and destroying the cancer. “So they essentially become tumor-killing robots,” Albelda said. “The stakes of these projects are incredibly high. It could be a major paradigm shift in the treatment of these cancers.” The first project is a set of clin...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Source Type: news