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Innovative cancer therapy uses immune system to attack tumours
Imagine if you could re-engineer your immune system to target and attack cancer growing in your body. A new clinical trial led by a clinician researcher at the University of Alberta is doing just that.
Michael Chu, an assistant professor of oncology in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, is leading a project to manufacture and test locally produced chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells for the treatment of leukemia and lymphoma.
CAR T-cell therapy is an innovative treatment that uses a patient’s own immune system to battle cancer cells. It’s a promising alternative to common treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation or surgery, and can be the only viable option for some patients.
A new program using CAR T-cell therapy is underway at Calgary s Tom Baker Cancer Centre (TBCC) and is changing the way doctors approach the treatment of certain blood cancers. Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapy uses a person s own immune cells to fight cancer and will now be offered in Alberta to patients with specific kinds of leukemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. CAR T-cell therapy has changed the way we approach the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma, said Dr. Mona Shafey, MD, FRCPC, hematologist and director of the Alberta Blood and Marrow Transplant Program. These patients have a very poor prognosis and often die of their disease. The availability of Yescarta gives these patients access to a potentially life-saving treatment.