Chimeric antigen receptor T cells, better known as CAR T cells, are powerful immunotherapy agents derived from a cancer patient’s existing immune cells and engineered to fight their specific tumors. However, as successful as they are in treating some cancers, they fail at treating others, such as pancreatic tumors, which develop clever ways of avoiding immune detection.
But such failures may soon be a thing of the past: In two new mouse studies published in Science on December 15, researchers unveiled tactics for creating manipulatable CAR T cells. The researchers behind the works say that, thanks to the new approaches, they may be able to overcome the current hurdles facing CAR T therapies. The new techniques allow them to control when and where CAR T cells are active, targeting tumors at specific times and keep CAR T cells from becoming less effective over time, which often happens during cancer.
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