Abstract

IMMUNOTHERAPY OF CANCER USING CAR – T CELL THERAPY AND ITS TOXICITY AND MANAGEMENT

*Sameer Kumar Chinari

Abstract

Cancer has caused About 9.6 million estimated deaths in 2018. Medications developed in past years have helped in overcoming the disease, but not all patients are fortunate enough and suffer a relapse. In recent times, a newer therapy has emerged, which involves the use of the patient‘s immunity and adapt it to identify and kill the tumour cells in the body. This is known as Adoptive Cell Therapy/Transfer, where some specific cells of the diseased organism are transferred into a healthy organism to impart immunity against the disease. This idea, with time developed into a new treatment method named Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) – T cell therapy. The therapy involves the isolation of the T – cell lymphocytes from the patient who is suffering from cancer, specifically Large B-cell Lymphoma (LBCL) or Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL). specific genes are added to the cells that will code for cancer-specific receptor named Chimeric Antigen Receptor. Bulk volume of these cells is developed in cell cultures. Before transfusion, the patient is administered some chemotherapy to decrease the risk of inflammation due to the therapy. After the transfusion, patients are kept in observation for up to 2 weeks in case there is any adverse effect due to the therapy. The most usual side effect is Cytokine Release Syndrome which causes disorders like fever, fatigue, nausea, rashes, headache, low blood pressure and other inflammatory responses. The side effects are largely managed by some medications. Currently, the US-FDA has approved three treatment therapies for ALL and BLCL.

Keywords: ? Chimeric Antigen Receptor – T cell Therapy (CAR-T cell therapy) ? Immunotherapy ? Cancer therapy ? Adoptive Immunotherapy ? Leukaemia ? Lymphoma ? Personalized therapy