Cancer
Posted: 02 Oct 2024 16:58
Nature | In vivo CAR T cells move into clinical trials
CAR T - Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell therapyTechniques that turn a person’s immune T cells into CAR T cells directly in the body are beginning to be tested in clinical trials. CAR T cells are currently made by removing a person’s own T cells, engineering them to express a cell-surface protein that attacks cancerous cells and reinfusing them into the body. In vivo approaches that insert genetic-engineering tools directly into the body could be far less expensive and would not require people to undergo chemotherapy as part of the treatment. Around 12 companies have launched or soon plan to launch clinical trials testing various genetic constructs, or ‘vectors’, that carry the tools into a person’s T cells.