I wanted to ask this... a few weeks ago my doctor told me that in about a year they will have a treatment for gynecological cancer in regard to CART-T. He said it will be over 90% effective. He said it's a one time thing, not like chemo. Now it's not ready for my kind of cancer, he said, but he sounded sure it would be. I was surprised because although my doctor seems to lean on the positive side, I couldn't imagine him stretching the truth. Then to see if he meant it, I asked him about it at the next chemo session. He confirmed again. What's up with this? Have you heard this? I googled but it's too hard to read for me.
Thanks!!
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carolleigh
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I was intrigued by this and did some googling.... it is an immunotherapy technique that persuades the body’s T cells to recognise and attack cancer cells ( v basic explanation) but the article I read suggested that there is a big problem with side effects and adverse response too. It would be lovely to think that this technique will be used in the future but I think your doc may be being a little optimistic on the timescale xx
There was a bbc documentary about this treatment early in the year called War in the Blood. It was very interesting. It followed 2 patients and their treatment. Unfortunatley it didnt work for either of them. The side effects did seem bad . I cant remember details about the success rate but the film did end with details other patients who had done very well.
Not sure if you can find it to watch now. If you google it I think you may get information about cart t though.
It seemed as if the treatment was a way off being ready but that it would be used for various cancers.
That was almost a year ago, let's hope they're making good progress with it.
Hi Carol, It's Car T-cell not Cart t-cell and they haven't got it working on solid tumours yet, I saw a lab technician interviewed on the BBC and she said it was about 10 years away for solid tumours, it works on some blood cancers. I met a man in the chemo suite who had been treated with it he was completely cured and had been considered incurable prior to getting the treatment. He was 85 years old! The way it works is it changes your Immune system by way of extracting blood sending it to a lab in America to change the way the t-cells work so they attack the cancer and then they re-introduce the blood. Hope that helps Sue xx
Yes, to echo what Sue said, I have a colleague here in the US with multiple myeloma and his doctor has a trial on Car-T therapy but he said it would be the last resort, not sure why.
Um...how do I say this? I would be leery or any doctor saying any treatment "will be over 90% effective". That is quite a statement. And to be made by a professional who knows that nothing is certain, gives me pause. That's not to say that there aren't great strides being made in immunotherapy, but I would take any overly optimistic comments like that with a grain of salt.
I hope your doctor is right, but I would urge you to err on the side of skepticism. Just my humble opinion.
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