Cancer therapy goes to the next level: immune cells now activate anti-cancer drugs

In 10 seconds? Engineered immune T cells (CAR-T cells) have been a game-changer in cancer treatment. Now, scientists took this type of therapy to the next level: they equipped these immune cells with the extra ability to activate anti-cancer drugs.

Can you remind me what is CAR-T therapy? CAR-T therapy programs T cells to attack cancer. T cells are usually taken from the patient’s samples and engineered to express a synthetic molecule called a Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR). Thanks to this receptor, CAR-T cells can recognize and bind proteins on the surface of cancer cells and then kill those cells.