申論題

Chimeric antigen receptors (CARs)

The patient’s own T-cells are used to make the CAR T-cells. In CAR T-cell therapies, T-cells are taken from the patient’s blood and are changed in the lab by adding a gene for a receptor (called a chimeric antigen receptor or CAR), which helps the T-cells better identify specific cancer cell antigens. The CAR T-cells are then given back to the patient.

Since different cancers have different antigens, each CAR is made for specific cancer’s antigen. For example, certain kinds of leukemia or lymphoma will have an antigen on the outside of the cancer cells called CD-19. The CAR T-cell therapies to treat those cancers are made to connect to the CD-19 antigen and will not work for a cancer that does not have the CD-19 antigen.