CAR T-cell therapy: When your own cells defeat cancer | hessenschau.de

Every year hundreds of thousands of people in Germany develop cancer. The doctors at the Frankfurt University Hospital treat particularly severe cases with a new type of immunotherapy. With great success. You speak of a “milestone” in the fight against cancer.

By Gaby Delingat and Birgitta Sölling

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Dieter Repp had little hope left. An aggressive lymph node cancer was bulging in his groin, the size of a chicken egg. Two chemotherapy treatments failed. That was two and a half years ago. Today the 60-year-old is doing well – thanks to a new type of immunotherapy. “It’s a good feeling, the values ​​are getting better and better,” he says.

His own blood cells helped him. His blood was taken, the immune cells were isolated and they were genetically modified so that they recognized and destroyed the cancer cells.

These so-called CAR-T cells were then injected back into the patient; they multiplied in the body and fought the cancer, but not healthy tissue. The procedure is relatively new and has only been approved in the European Union since 2018.

Immunotherapy successful in severe cases of cancer

“We have gained full control of the tumor. It is the best result we could achieve,” explains doctor Thomas Oellerich from the Frankfurt University Hospital. Dieter Repp no ​​longer has any symptoms today. “That lasts for quite a while, and that’s exactly what cell therapy is all about.” For the Frankfurt doctor, this represents a milestone in the fight against cancer.

The therapy is successful in around half of cancer cases that are considered hopeless. “We can use cell therapies to treat tumor diseases for which we previously had no efficient means available,” explains doctor Oellerich.

However, immunotherapy is also a very expensive procedure. A single infusion costs around 300,000 euros. The so-called CAR T cell therapy is only used if conventional treatment does not work or the cancer has recurred several times.

Natural killer cells destroy tumor cells

So far, the procedure can only help patients who suffer from blood cancer, lymph gland cancer or bone marrow cancer. But there is hope for other diseases too.

The Frankfurt cell researcher Evelyn Ullrich and her team are working on making the body’s own natural killer cells (NK cells) fit to fight cancer. “It is always fascinating to see for yourself that these genetically modified MK cells can destroy tumor cells so efficiently,” she says.

Every person has such natural killer cells in their blood. They can even be obtained from a blood donation, which does not have to come from the person affected. The neuro-oncologist Joachim Steinbach uses it to treat malignant brain tumors as part of the world’s first clinical study at the University Hospital in Frankfurt.

“Once the tumor nodule is removed, the killer cells are injected directly into the wall of the surgical cavity, where it is suspected that there may be remnants of the tumor,” he explains. The complex therapy has proven to be well tolerated and leads to fewer inflammatory reactions. “This is very important with the brain, a very delicate organ,” says Steinbach.

Immunotherapy can have serious side effects

But CAR T-cell treatment can also lead to violent reactions from the immune system. Some patients have to stay in hospital for weeks. Not so Dieter Repp. He was spared any side effects such as severe fever or neurological deficits.

“As a layperson, you can’t even imagine that cells are taken from you that are genetically modified in order to recognize the cancer and destroy it. That’s quite a breakthrough,” he says.