The treatment of certain diseases through the use of CAR-T cells (the patient's own T lymphocytes, programmed to attack the tumour) is proving to be a therapeutic option to be borne in mind for various types of hematological disease, and even solid tumours.
The fundamental things to know about this subject are:
1) At the moment, this is an experimental therapy and patients can consequently only be treated with it if they are included in a clinical trial.
2) There are two types of CAR, depending on their origin: commercial CARs (prepared by various pharmaceutical companies (Novartis ® and Gilead ®, amongst others), which have a very high cost, and academic CARs prepared by the hospital centres themselves, with a more reasonable cost.
3) At the present time in Spain various commercial clinical trials have been authorised and one academic one, although many others, with differing targets, are being validated.
4) Not all blood diseases can benefit from this therapy because specific CARs have not been created for every kind of disease. The most developed ones are those for the treatment of B-lineage acute childhood lymphoblastic leukaemia and certain kinds of lymphoma. The number of CARs available is growing by the day.
5) As in all phases of development the only patients accepted for these clinical trials are those for whom all the proven methods for controlling the disease have failed.
6) The results of treatment with CAR therapy are uncertain, but it is known that in at least 50% of cases it does not control the disease and that its use is not free from serious side effects. Ever more and ever better research is constantly being conducted into these effects.
7) The list of current clinical trials with CAR therapy in Spain can be consulted here https://reec.aemps.es/reec/public/web.html