CAR-T (Chimeric Antigen Receptor, T cell) therapy has been used very successfully against the blood cancers and they are now beginning to make headway in ‘solid’ cancers. Chemo is on the way out, though it wont happen anytime soon. Immunotherapy - using the body’s own immune system to attack cancer, is the new sheriff in town.
That’s great it’s helping with some blood cancers. I had a donor stem cell transplant recently after several rounds of Chemo for acute myeloid leukemia. From what I’ve seen so far, this therapy hasn’t found its way to AML patients yet. It’s a tricky thing with AML because it saturates the bone marrow fast - within a month or 2 and without immediate chemo, patients will die in another month. So, it’s tricky to make sure they get it right or the patient won’t survive.
They are probably trying it on chronic Leukemia patients first. They are doing great and have come a long way with treatments with blood cancers. They have me on a daily maintenance chemo trial with targets an aggressive gene, hoping to prevent relaps. The chemo is actually FDA approved for kidney & liver cancer.
“Immunotherapy - using the body’s own immune system to attack cancer, is the new sheriff in town.”
I’m a firm believer that extreme stress in a woman’s life wreaks havoc on her immune system. Of course, in that state the system isn’t able to fight cancer cells. My family and friends have suggested that stress was the impetus for my cancer in 2014, and resultant mastectomy. I have come to believe them.
This immunotherapy sounds logical and promising. Still, I’m trying to decrease the stress.