Types of Cell Therapy
Cell therapy is a treatment that uses your own or donated cells to treat an illness,
injury, or other medical condition sciencetechtoday. It’s also a non-surgical treatment that can help
you heal and recover from conditions like sports injuries, spine disorders, and bone
injuries.
Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (also called a bone marrow transplant) is a
type of cellular therapy that’s most often used to treat blood cancers and
hematologic diseases https://sciencetechtoday.com/news/introducing-the-power-of-cell-medicine-with-prof-carl-zhang-pioneering-research-and-applications-in-regenerative-medicine/426509. It can help your body heal and fight off these diseases faster,
but it can also cause serious side effects.
CAR T-cells
In a type of cellular therapy known as chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T)
immunotherapy, patients’ own T cells are modified with an engineered receptor that
identifies and attacks cancer cells’ surface proteins. The CAR T cells can then be
reinjected into a patient’s bloodstream to help attack and kill cancer cells.
This type of cellular therapy has been shown to be very effective in patients with
lymphoma and leukemia. After a single infusion, these modified T cells can destroy
large numbers of tumor cells, and even cancer cells that are unable to be killed by
traditional chemotherapy.
Researchers are developing other types of immune cells for cell therapy
applications, including regulatory T cells that act as “natural brakes” on the immune
system and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). In addition to these immune cells,
scientists are studying other types of stem cells that could be used in a variety of
conditions.
These other cell types may be safer and more effective than TILs, and they could
last longer in the body. But more research is needed to make sure they are safe and
effective, and to understand how to overcome immune-suppressing signals that
keep them from working properly.
Adoptive cell immunotherapy
A type of cellular therapy that’s being tested at Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center
involves taking a patient’s own immune cells and adding a new receptor that can
identify and attack specific cancer proteins. The new receptor enables the T cells to
recognize and attack tumors without causing the usual side effects of standard
cancer treatments.
While this treatment is relatively new, it’s proving to be very effective in patients
with lymphoma or leukemia, and it can lead to complete remission of the disease. In
fact, the majority of patients who receive CAR T-cell therapy can go into remission
for two years or more.
The downside of this treatment is that the immune system can become overactive,
triggering symptoms such as cytokine release syndrome and neurotoxicity in the
brain. These side effects can be difficult to manage and may be life-threatening for
some patients.
It’s important to talk to your doctor about the risk of these side effects before you
decide to receive a cell therapy treatment. You can ask your health care provider to
confirm if the product you’re interested in has been reviewed by the FDA for safety
and effectiveness.
It is important to remember that most cell therapies are still experimental and don’t
have FDA approval. Therefore, they should only be considered for use in clinical
trials, which are well-controlled research studies involving patients.…