It is one of the most common and aggressive cancers: glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). To date, life expectancy rarely exceeds 1 year and 241,000 people die each year, note Futura Science .
Usually, T lymphocytes allow our body to provide an immune response when cells are attacked by a virus or tumor. Only, cancer prevents this response from being effective. Researchers at the universities of Toronto and McMaster in Canada therefore had the idea of developing, in the laboratory, a molecule (CAR for Chimeric antigen receptor) from the patient’s lymphocytes. Once they have been genetically modified, they become able to fight the intruder again.
The tumor burden has decreased
The first tests carried out on mice show encouraging results. Their life expectancy has increased and the tumor burden has decreased, continues Futura Science . A start-up, called Empirica Therapeutics, has been created and aims to carry out clinical tests in 2022. We hope that our approach of targeting glioblastoma cells using CAR-T therapy will provide patients with a better quality of life and greater chances of survival.
, comments Jason Moffat, scientific manager at Empirica Therapeutics.
This discovery also allows us to envisage other avenues that the start-up intends to explore.
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