Cancer Treatment: CAR-T immunotherapy less harmful

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Cancer Treatment: CAR-T immunotherapy less harmful. Compared with traditional cancer treatment methods, CAR-T immunotherapy is less harmful to the human body.

In 2020, there are approximately 19.3 million new cancer cases worldwide. On December 15, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) under the World Health Organization released the latest data. It is estimated that in 2020 there will be approximately 19.3 million new cancer cases and approximately 10 million deaths worldwide [1].

Why are so many people suffering from cancer now?

In fact, the most important cause of cancer is genetic mutation. There are probably more than 20,000 genes in our body, and there are more than 100 that are really directly related to cancer. If one or more of these cancer genes are mutated, the probability of cancer occurrence is very high.

Secondly, internal and external factors will also increase the risk of cancer

External factors: such as environmental pollution, radiation exposure, virus infection, etc. can cause cancer.

Intrinsic factors: Today’s human lifestyle is unhealthy. Smoking, alcoholism, improper diet, lack of exercise, mental problems, etc. will accelerate the pace of cancer visits. In addition, the immune cells in the body will also weaken as the body ages. However, aging immune cells are also unable to resist the attack of cancer cells [3].

The increasing prevalence of cancer has also brought tremendous pressure to medical treatment, and more and more medical scientists are exploring ways to cure cancer.

Generally, traditional cancer treatment methods include surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Although surgical treatment can remove the tumor, it is generally suitable when the cancer cells have not spread, and the operation can cause great trauma to the human body.

Many people know about radiotherapy and chemotherapy. After radiotherapy and chemotherapy, patients are very weak, and many people have a lot of hair loss. It looks very distressed. Because radiotherapy and chemotherapy kill cancer cells while also causing harm to other healthy cells, this method of killing one thousand enemies and destroying one hundred and eight hundred makes patients miserable.

But the cancer treatment method that I will introduce today-CAR-T immunotherapy, as a new star in the cancer world, is one of the more effective cancer treatment methods. Compared with traditional cancer treatment methods, CAR-T immunotherapy The harm to the human body is also minor.

What is CAR-T immunotherapy?

Speaking of CAR-T cells, we must first introduce the T cells that help the human body resist foreign enemies. T cells are the main force of the human immune system and are responsible for attacking and removing cancer cells and maintaining human health.

But many cancer cells will continue to mutate to obtain layers of camouflage, making T cells think it is a normal cell, causing cancer cells to continue to multiply and spread, and the body becomes weaker.

If you can make T-cells get a sharp eye, see through the camouflage of cancer cells, re-identify and eliminate them, won’t you get the purpose of treatment? Under this thinking, CAR-T cell immunotherapy came into being.

First, researchers will perform genetic testing on patients, analyze the information characteristics of tumor cells in the patient, and then collect blood to extract T cells from it.

Next, the researchers used genetic technology to install the positioning and navigation device CAR on the T cells, which is the chimeric antigen receptor, and upgrade the T cells to “super immune fighters” CAR-T cells.

This process is equivalent to telling T cells what are the characteristics of cunning tumor cells and what they look like to improve the recognition ability of T cells. When CAR-T cells are cultured in vitro and reach a sufficient number, the researchers will return them through the vein. Infused into the patient’s body. A patient generally needs billions or even tens of billions of CAR-T cells.

CAR-T cells have been upgraded through navigation and their attack power has also been upgraded. Coupled with a larger number of expanded CAR-T cells, CAR-T cells can more accurately and effectively target cancer cells in the human body and help patients recover.

Real case: CAR-T immunotherapy brings hope to patients

In July 2020, a child with rhabdomyosarcoma (a type of muscle cancer that has spread to the bone marrow) was treated with CAR-T cells genetically modified to target the HER2 protein on the surface of cancer cells. No cancer was found. This clinical trial was conducted by researchers from Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital, and Houston Methodist Hospital [4].

In September 2019, 14 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia who underwent the CAR-T immune cell therapy experiment at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London (none of which could be cured by traditional therapies), 12 recovered within 3 months, of which 5 The name is still healthy [5].

Summary

According to the data published by “Nature Reviews Drug Discovery” [7], as of March 2020, there are 1,438 cancer cell immunotherapy pipelines in the world, an increase of 472 compared with last year, of which CAR-T immune cell therapy has the largest increase. CAR-T cell therapy is providing patients with many refractory diseases with new life-saving options.

Although cancer is terrible, the progress of science and technology has made people see the hope of curing the disease. As ordinary people, in addition to relying on medicine to help us overcome the pain, we should develop good living habits in our daily life to prevent cancer. Time, store the immune cells in good condition and reserve a batch of the youngest

(sourcechinanet, reference only)

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Important Note: The information provided is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as medical advice.