The Promise of CAR T-Cell Therapy for Multiple Myeloma – SurvivorNet

While not yet approved by the FDA, clinical trials testing CAR T-cell therapy have better numbers than weve seen ever in the history of multiple myeloma, says Dr. Robert Orlowski, chair of the Department of Lymphoma and Myeloma at the MD Anderson Cancer Center.

With the living drug treatment CAR T-cell therapy already approved by the Food and Drug Administration for certain non-Hodgkins lymphomas, doctors are now looking at its tremendous promise for multiple myeloma.

The response rate has been around 90%, without about half of those patients ending up in complete remission, Dr. Orlowski says.

CAR T-cell therapy is a one-time treatment that is both a drug and procedure. A patients immune systems T cells are extracted from their body, genetically modified in a lab to identify and attack cancer cells, and then put back into the body to do their work.

For multiple myeloma,CAR T-cell therapy most commonly targets the B-cell maturation antigen, or BCMA.

One of the nice advantages is that, so far, CAR T is a one-and-done therapy, Dr. Orlowski explains. When the CAR Ts are reinfused, you dont have any additional chemotherapy afterward and many of these patients who were quite sick at the beginning feel better after this than after any prior therapy theyve had.

Plus, he says, their quality of life after CAR T-cell therapy, if people have a great response, is much better, it seems, than with standard chemotherapies.

While it takes time to carefully execute the clinical trials, Dr. Orlowski shares that the results so far have been extremely positive. Researchers have learned that BCMA is a really good target because its expressed only on myeloma cells and normal plasma cells, meaning the CAR T-cells genetically engineered to attack it will not attack other tissues in the body.

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

Dr. Orlowski is a Professor of Medicine in the Departments of Lymphoma/Myeloma and Experimental Therapeutics, Division of Cancer Medicine, where he is board-certified in medicaloncology. Read More

While not yet approved by the FDA, clinical trials testing CAR T-cell therapy have better numbers than weve seen ever in the history of multiple myeloma, says Dr. Robert Orlowski, chair of the Department of Lymphoma and Myeloma at the MD Anderson Cancer Center.

With the living drug treatment CAR T-cell therapy already approved by the Food and Drug Administration for certain non-Hodgkins lymphomas, doctors are now looking at its tremendous promise for multiple myeloma.

CAR T-cell therapy is a one-time treatment that is both a drug and procedure. A patients immune systems T cells are extracted from their body, genetically modified in a lab to identify and attack cancer cells, and then put back into the body to do their work.

For multiple myeloma,CAR T-cell therapy most commonly targets the B-cell maturation antigen, or BCMA.

One of the nice advantages is that, so far, CAR T is a one-and-done therapy, Dr. Orlowski explains. When the CAR Ts are reinfused, you dont have any additional chemotherapy afterward and many of these patients who were quite sick at the beginning feel better after this than after any prior therapy theyve had.

Plus, he says, their quality of life after CAR T-cell therapy, if people have a great response, is much better, it seems, than with standard chemotherapies.

While it takes time to carefully execute the clinical trials, Dr. Orlowski shares that the results so far have been extremely positive. Researchers have learned that BCMA is a really good target because its expressed only on myeloma cells and normal plasma cells, meaning the CAR T-cells genetically engineered to attack it will not attack other tissues in the body.

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

Dr. Orlowski is a Professor of Medicine in the Departments of Lymphoma/Myeloma and Experimental Therapeutics, Division of Cancer Medicine, where he is board-certified in medicaloncology. Read More

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The Promise of CAR T-Cell Therapy for Multiple Myeloma - SurvivorNet