New treatment horizon : Chimeric Antigen Receptor CAR T Cell Therapy

Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation have been the foundation of cancer treatment for decades. Cancer researchers are now studying how harnessing the immune system can help destroy cancer cells. One type of immunotherapy involves engineering patients’ own T-cells to have a unique receptor, called a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR), enabling these immune cells to recognize and attack cancer cells. CAR T-cell therapy is currently used for some types of blood cancers and in development for hundreds of other cancers types. In this presentation, Dr. Hay will present how a CAR T-cell is made and how it works, as well as the current and future indications for this novel therapy.