I chose this because I like the idea of having a living therapy that will remain active in my system. Later on it can be used with other therapies. They have already used checkpoint inhibitors to reactivate CAR-T cells in multiple myeloma.
I've seen some posts that talk about trials ad the next therapy after using up SOC options. I'm fully behind trials,, since that is the only rational way to find a cure. However, trials are different than standard treatment. Reading through the consent forms makes me much more aware that I am what is being tested and experimented on. It appeals to me as a scientist to be an active member in the experiment.
I've been trying to find an analogy for my rapid journey with mCRPC. I think this video of someone jumping off a cliff in a glide suit covers it. I feel like I'm still navigating the slot canyon, and waiting for the end where I get clear air and pop the parachute.
I will keep you posted. The first stop is to stain my original biopsy for PSCA expression. Without PSCA expression,,the therapy won't be useful. My understanding is that it is expressed in all healthy and cancerous prostate cells, so I'm expecting to pass that screen
We all thank you for taking this leap of faith. When I participated in 3 trials so far, while also doing SOC treatments, over the past 3 years I always knew it wasn't only about me. I am helping every warrior fighting this disease and looking for viable treatment. If we don't consider clinical trials we may never find a break through therapy for all of us.
We look forward to hearing about your progress. Best of luck to you and all of us.
Thanks for your support. I have more to say about the spiritual aspects of the journey, but don't want to hijack my own post. I'll post something a little further down the road.
It might sound selfish but I am glad you went with Car-T. I am interested in it. Very much and yes among other things the "live" therapy remaining in us after treatment.
From what I have seen thru your posts your analogy with the glide suit is fitting. I hope very much for success with your treatment. You have been quite the intelligent, working like a dog, PCA student. It's not exclusive to you but none the less I have absorbed info thru your posts as good discussions blossom. Thanks!
Yep, I'm sure you'll keep us posted and thanks again for your dogged pursuit of life extension for yourself in the onslaught of your fast moving PCA.
I am optimistic a good outcome for you is coming with this trial.
Wishing you the best with your decision. I’m excited for you and for others watching you closely as you proceed with this Car T trial. PSMA seems to be a good target as it’s expressed on about 80% of metastatic pc cells. The risk is that these surface markers are also shared with normal tissue. However I know you’ll be watched closely. I’m really interested because my brother was 3 days from leukophorisis when he had to have back surgery due to Mets
The downside is the long wait time while the cells are being re-engineered.
Will be nice to know those New T cells will be attacking soon!!! Go get ‘em!!
Thank you all for your encouragement. It is feeling like an adventure at this point. I'll keep posting as appropriate. I'm also mindful of the scientific value to the researchers, so I don't want to publish before them.
Provenge and CAR-T both use T cells. to attack the cancer, but use different pathways to do it.
Provege is a dendritic cell vaccine. Dendritic cells are harvested from the patient and externally exposed to a prostate cancer antigen and a cytokine to stimulate them. This causes the dendritic cell to express the cancer antigen. When injected back into the patient, the dendritic cells present the antigen to T cells that then recognize the antigen as a marker for a foreign invader, and attack the cancer that expresses the antigen.
CAR-T directly genetically modifies the T cells to recognize a cancer antigen. In the case of the trial I am joining, T cells are modified to recognize Prostate Stem Cell Antigen (PSCA). The killer T cells attack the cancer.
The difficulty with PCa is that the tumor environment is hostile to the immune system in a way that isn't well understood. CAR-T seems to get around this problem better than Provenge. The evidence of this is the Cytokine Release Syndrome ( CRS) that immediately follows injection of the modified T cells.
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