To improve the effect of cell therapy, chimeric antigen receptor T cells (also known as CAR T cells) or CAR NK cells are applied, which are T / NK cells that have been genetically engineered to produce an artificial cell receptor.

Chimeric antigen receptors are bioengineered proteins that give T-cells the mechanism to neutralize a particular protein. The receptors are termed "chimeric" because they utilize both native T-cell functions and the new antigen-recognizing functions into one receptor.

CAR-T cell therapy uses T cells engineered with CARs for cancer therapy. The premise of CAR-T immunotherapy is to modify T cells to recognize cancer cells in order to more effectively target and destroy them. Scientists harvest T cells from people, genetically alter them, then infuse the resulting CAR-T cells into patients to attack their tumors [1]. CAR-T cells can be either derived from T cells in a patient's own blood (autologous) or derived from the T cells of another healthy donor (allogenic). Once isolated from a person, these T cells are genetically engineered to express a specific CAR, which programs them to target an antigen that is present on the surface of tumors. For safety, CAR-T cells are engineered to be specific to an antigen expressed on a tumor that is not expressed on healthy cells [2].

After CAR-T cells are infused into a patient, they act as a "living drug" against cancer cells.[3] When they come in contact with their targeted antigen on a cell, CAR-T cells bind to it and become activated, then proceed to proliferate and become cytotoxic.[4] CAR-T cells destroy cells through several mechanisms, including extensive stimulated cell proliferation, increasing the degree to which they are toxic to other living cells (cytotoxicity), and by causing the increased secretion of factors that can affect other cells such as cytokines, interleukins, and growth factors.[5]

In the year of 2017, FDA approved two CAR-T therapies both target the CD19 antigen, which is found on many types of B-cell cancers.[6] Tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah) is approved to treat relapsed/refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), while axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta) is approved to treat relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).[6]

We HKADRF are actively preparing for CAR-T & CAR-NK related research projects for pet dogs and cats, hoping to get your financial support.

Reference:

1. Fox, Maggie (July 12, 2017). "New Gene Therapy for Cancer Offers Hope to Those With No Options Left". NBC News.
2. Srivastava S, Riddell SR (August 2015). "Engineering CAR-T cells: Design concepts". Trends in Immunology. 36 (8): 494–502. doi:10.1016/j.it.2015.06.004. PMC 4746114. PMID 26169254.
3. Sadelain M, Brentjens R, Rivière I (April 2013). "The basic principles of chimeric antigen receptor design". Cancer Discovery. 3 (4): 388–98. doi:10.1158/2159-8290.CD-12-0548. PMC 3667586. PMID 23550147.
4. Hartmann J, Schüßler-Lenz M, Bondanza A, Buchholz CJ (2017). "Clinical development of CAR T cells-challenges and opportunities in translating innovative treatment concepts". EMBO Molecular Medicine. 9 (9): 1183–1197. doi:10.15252/emmm.201607485.
5. Tang XJ, Sun XY, Huang KM, Zhang L, Yang ZS, Zou DD, Wang B, Warnock GL, Dai LJ, Luo J (December 2015). "Therapeutic potential of CAR-T cell-derived exosomes: a cell-free modality for targeted cancer therapy". Oncotarget. 6 (42): 44179–90. doi:10.18632/oncotarget.6175. PMC 4792550. PMID 26496034.
6. "Thumbs Up to Latest CAR T-Cell Approval". www.medpagetoday.com. 2017-10-19.