Application Article: Next-Generation CAR-T Cell Therapy Opens the Way to a Leading Role for Immunotherapy in Cancer Treatment

The surface molecule PD-1 acts as a switch to halt the immune cell’s activity, a feature cancer cells take advantage of to evade the immune system.  Immune checkpoint inhibitors block the action of PD-1 to restore the activation status of immune cells and enable them to attack cancer cells again.

Despite the long history of research in the field of cancer immunotherapy, it was difficult to get approval for coverage by public health insurance due to the scarcity of scientific evidence for its effectiveness in comparison to surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. “The major change in awareness of immunotherapy was triggered by the approval of an immune checkpoint inhibitor in Japan in 2014,” said Professor Koji Tamada of the Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine.

Read the full article as Dr. Tamada further describes next-generation CAR-T immunotherapy approaches, including his novel method, Prime CAR-T cell therapy, and the advantages they are providing in the treatment of cancer. 

Learn more about information-rich solutions for CAR-T research from Sartorius at www.sartorius.com/car-t-research.