An oncologist explains why interest in the new technology goes beyond providing a new lease of life to
people with leukaemias and lymphomas.
An artist’s impression of T-cells (in grey) attacking another cell.
The story so far: The three major forms of treatment for any cancer are surgery (removing the
cancer), radiotherapy (delivering ionising radiation to the tumour), and systemic therapy
(administering medicines that act on the tumour). Surgery and radiotherapy have been refined
significantly over time – whereas advances in systemic therapy have been unparalleled. A new
development on this front, currently holding the attention of many researchers worldwide, is
CAR T-cell therapy.
Systemic therapy’s earliest form was chemotherapy: when administered, it preferentially acts
on cancer cells because of the latter’s rapid, unregulated growth and poor healing mechanisms.
Chemotherapeutic drugs have modest response rates and significant side-effects as they affect
numerous cell types in the body.
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