Keeping Cancer Away Long Term
- A new treatment called CAR T-cell therapy re-engineers your immune cells to target your cancer
- It’s approved for people whose cancer has come back after treatment, or who didn’t respond to treatments they’ve received
- Many people who’ve gotten this therapy have remained cancer-free long term
“I’ve hit on a couple things in my career that were exciting and hard to believe, and this was one of them,” Dr. Stephen Schuster, director of the Abramson Cancer Center’s lymphoma program, tells SurvivorNet. “Not only did it work, but with a single treatment these patients were not relapsing.”
CAR T-Cell Therapy, Explained
Read MoreTwo CAR T-cell therapies are approved for people with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta) and tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah).
How Well Does This Therapy Work?
When Dr. Schuster and his colleagues at Penn Medicine were studying CAR T-cell therapy and they first introduced the genetically modified T cells into patients, the results surprised them. “Amazingly, it worked. And it worked in a durable fashion,” he says.
In studies, more than 54% of people who took Yescarta and 40% of those who took Kymriah achieved a complete response, meaning they no longer had any sign of cancer in their body. With Yescarta, 40% of people were still in remission an average of 15 months after their treatment.
Those who get CAR T-cell therapy have already been through at least two other treatments — usually rituximab (Rituxan) plus chemotherapy, as well as high-dose chemotherapy. “Some of these patients had three, four, or five prior lines of therapy and we were able to save their lives,” Dr. Schuster tells SurvivorNet.
When You’re Considering CAR T-Cell Therapy
Though this treatment is exciting, it’s not right for everyone with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The FDA has approved CAR T-cell therapy for aggressive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma that has come back after treatment or that didn’t respond to treatment. It’s also approved for high-grade B-cell lymphoma and transformed follicular lymphoma.
CAR T-cell therapy doesn’t cause hair loss and nausea like chemotherapy, but it does have its own list of side effects, and some of them can be serious. When CAR T-cells multiply in the body, they trigger the release of inflammatory chemicals called cytokines. This can lead to a condition known as cytokine release syndrome (CRS), with symptoms such as high fevers, weakness, chills, and low blood pressure. Another possible side effect of CAR T-cell therapy is brain changes that can lead to confusion and a lack of awareness.
Discuss all of the possible side effects of this treatment with your doctor before you start, so you’ll know what to expect, and what to do if you have them.
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