When Chemo Doesn't Work, There are Options
- The majority of patients who are diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, the most common type of lymphoma, will be cured with a standard approach.
- This involves chemotherapy and “an immune therapy in the form of an antibody that targets a protein on the surface of those cells, CD20,” Dr. Loretta Nastoupil, an oncologist at MD Anderson Cancer Center, tells SurvivorNet.
- For some patients, however, this approach does not work. That’s when innovative treatment options like CAR T-cell therapy or bispecific antibodies may be used.
- CAR T-cell therapy involves training a person’s own immune cells to target and attack cancer cells.
- With bispecific therapies, one arm of the treatment binds to the cancer cell and attacks it directly. Meanwhile, the other arm attaches to a “killer” immune cell called a T-cell, and pulls it toward the lymphoma cell.
“Most of those patients will be approached with frontline, anthracycline-based chemotherapy, plus an immune therapy in the form of an antibody that targets a protein on the surface of those cells, CD20,” Dr. Loretta Nastoupil, an oncologist at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, tells SurvivorNet.
Read MoreWhat are the Options When Cancer is Not Responding to Chemotherapy?
“We’ve spent a lot of time over the last two decades trying to figure out ways to overcome that chemo resistance,” Dr. Nastoupil explains.CAR T-cell therapy, which involves training a person’s own immune cells to target and attack cancer cells, is one option — but due to road-blocks like access and toxicity, CAR T-cell therapy is not an option for everyone.
“Bispecific antibodies are sort of another version of that,” Dr. Nastoupil explains. “We’re using the patient’s own immune system without having to take [cells] out of the patient’s body. We stimulate those immune cells and we guide them at the tumor.”
Bispecific therapies bind to two antigens at once. One arm of the treatment binds to the cancer cell and attacks it directly. Meanwhile, the other arm attaches to a “killer” immune cell called a T-cell, and pulls it toward the lymphoma cell.
“We’re seeing that for about one-third of patients, [using bispecific antibodies] could actually reverse that negative course they’re on,” she adds.
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