Health professionals, patient representatives and research staff from across Cheshire and Merseyside attended our first CAR-T Opening Evening (Wed 4th Dec), all keen to learn more about this pioneering form of immunotherapy and the new service we are providing at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre – Liverpool.
Chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy (or CAR-T, for short) uses T cells from a patient’s immune system and transforms them into CAR-T cells that can recognise, attach to and attack cancer cells.
The open evening was an opportunity for haematology teams and researchers to tour the CAR-T facilities and find out more about the current treatment options, clinical criteria and care pathways for patients who may benefit from CAR-T therapy. The event included talks from leading members of The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre’s Haemato-Oncology team, explaining current and future treatment options involving CAR-T and other cellular therapies.
Cellular therapies are a rapidly evolving field of clinical research. CAR-T focuses on T cells and is primarily used in England to treat specific blood cancers such as acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and diffuse large B cell lymphoma that have not responded to standard treatment or that have returned after them.
But there is a lot of research exploring alternative uses for CAR-T (including non-cancerous conditions), and into other ‘CAR’ therapies that focus on different cells or different molecules. One example is CAR-NK therapy, which uses the body's natural killer cells.
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre provides the regional CAR-T and cellular therapies service for Cheshire and Merseyside, and surrounding areas.
