Some New York doctors are working on new ways to treat advanced cancers.
Chimeric Antigen Receptor, or CAR, T-cell therapy treats certain blood cancers by genetically modifying a person’s T-cells to attack cancer cells. It’s been a long-growing effort from doctors at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo over several decades. Dr. Renier Brentjens, the center’s deputy director and chair of medicine, developed CAR T-cell therapy – and explained that it acts differently than chemotherapy.
“It doesn’t have as many or as severe side effects that we see with chemotherapies,” said Brentjens, “where the drugs we see in the chemotherapies that we use tend to be less specific – and so, these chemotherapies both target healthy cells as well as cancer cells.”
He said there are primary side effects of CAR T-cell therapy. It can cause flu-like symptoms, low blood pressure, muscle pain, and nerve damage. Dr. Brentjens noted that one of the main challenges he faced was the initial skepticism about whether it could work. Since its proven success with blood cancers, he said he plans to see if it can be used to treat cancerous tumors, which are more common.
Chris Vogelsang is a Western New Yorker who’s faced lymphoma for 14 years after multiple relapses. After one recurrence, he was given the chance by Roswell Park to try CAR T-cell therapy. He could have tried another stem cell transplant, but that would require finding a donor. Vogelsang said the side effects from his first stem cell treatment and chemotherapy were tougher than the CAR T-cell therapy.
“Having been 10, 12 years out of my first round of treatment, I knew it was pretty taxing,” said Vogelsang. “I essentially lost 30 pounds in both cases. I think there was more nausea and physical illness from the stem cell transplant, as far as going through chemotherapy.”
He said he’s now back to an active lifestyle of playing tennis and golf.
CAR T-cell therapy has boosted survival rates for certain cancers. Studies show initial treatments for blood cancers had a prognosis of 10% to 15%. This therapy has boosted it to 40%.
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