Promising results with CAR-T-cell therapy for leukemia patients

The prognosis for children and adolescents with relapsing or resistant acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) was very bad. CAR-T-cell therapy changes this. UZ Gent pioneered this therapy, as first center in Europe.  UZ letters interviewed CRIG group leader prof. Barabara De Moerloose about the therapy and the obtained results.

CAR-T-cell therapy is a type of immune therapy, where the patients’ own immune system is deployed to attack cancer cells. In specific, in CAR-T-cell therapy, T-cells are genetically adapted to recognize and destroy cancer cells. This type of therapy was developed some year ago for ALL and tested successfully in the US. The next step was a world-wide clinical study. UZ Gent was the first of seven European centers starting up the clinical trial. The results are spectacular: the CAR-T-cell therapy cured about 60% of the patients for whom regular treatment regimens couldn’t offer any relief.

You can read the full interview with prof. De Moerloose (in Dutch) here.