Researchers from McMaster University and the University of Toronto created a promising drug based on CAR T-cell therapy against a deadly form of brain tumor — glioblastoma. In almost all cases, after aggressive treatment, the disease recurs in a more aggressive way in less than seven months. The study is published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.
While CAR T-cell therapy uses chimeric antigen receptor for the recognition of malignant cells and their subsequent destruction. It is a protein that combines fragments of antibodies which selectively bind to defined antigens, or domains, activating the immune system. T cells of the patient is extracted and genetically modified to make their surface was chimeric antigen receptor CAR, which binds to the protein CD133 cells glioblastoma. After modifying them again implanted into the patient’s body.
Experiments on mice with human glioblastoma have shown that CAR T-cell therapy improves survival and reduces tumor burden. In the future, the researchers plan to conduct clinical studies involving patients with recurrent disease.
