The University Hospital of La Paz has just discharged an 11-year-old boy who suffered from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia type B (ALL-B) after being treated with CAR-T cells. The disease has completely subsided.
Before being treated with cell therapy, the boy had undergone three other treatments that failed . On October 23, he received CAR-T cell therapy at the Madrid hospital. After a month of treatment and after having carried out the relevant tests, the complete remission of the leukemia has been confirmed, so that the signs and symptoms of the cancer have disappeared and her hematological parameters are normal. Tolerance to the drug has been excellent, with no relevant side effects. There is another patient who is receiving the same therapy .
CAR-T therapies are immune-based treatments to fight cancer. They consist of extracting T cells or lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell) from the patient in order to genetically modify them in the laboratory so that they are capable of attacking cancer cells . Remember that malignant cells go unnoticed by the immune system. Subsequently, the reprogrammed cells are grown in large quantities and injected into the patient. The drug manufacturing process takes about a month.
CAR-T is currently being used to treat blood cancers, such as leukemias or lymphomas, although research is being done to treat others as well.
In the treatment of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia type B (ALL-B), CAR-T drugs have given good results . However, its administration requires the participation of a multidisciplinary team. In the case at hand, it has had the participation of professionals from the Hemato-oncology, Neurology, Intensive Medicine, Immunology, Genetics, Pharmacy, and Nursing services from Hospital La Paz.
Immunotherapy represents a breakthrough in the fight against cancer , as it broadens the range of available treatments, with a lower level of toxicity compared to conventional chemotherapies.
For these reasons, the Madrid hospital has created the Translational Research group in Childhood Cancer of the Hematopoietic Transplantation and Cell Therapy Unit, led by Dr. Antonio Pérez Martínez , and the CRIS Unit for Advanced Therapies, to develop CAR-T therapies.
The group has developed a CAR-T that is manufactured in the same hospital (academic CAR-T) called CAR45RA-NKG2D and that is directed to non-B leukemias and solid tumors, with powerful preclinical results. The great advantage of this CAR-T is that for its manufacture it does not need the cells of the patient in question, so its disposal is immediate. In La Paz, the creation of a clean room to produce the medicine is being finalized.
The Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) has awarded the group led by Pérez Martínez a grant of 800,000 euros to study the academic CAR-T in children, adolescents and young people with advanced sarcoma.
