CAR-T Cell Therapy

By

The folks at Texas Oncology are working on getting me into a clinical trial.  It will first involve some scans and blood work to check if I am a good candidate.  Those are coming soon.  They also want a pretty extensive medical history.  I will do the best I can but I don't remember everything.  

The cancer is a non-Hodgkins B cell lymphoma.  So I have bad B cells in a number of places in the bone marrow.  If things were working properly certain T cells would kill them.  What they will do is give me a couple of drugs to wipe out my T cells and then later infuse 120 million T cells that have been programmed to kill the bad B cells.  Could result in a complete cure.  Dr. Levy says 50% chance.  This is not a double-blind study so I will get the treatment, not a placebo.  

https://www.cancercenter.com/what-are-b-cells-vs-t-cells

From the material they gave me.  Allogeneic means these cells come from a donor, not me.

"Allogeneic CAR-T therapy is a type of cancer therapy in which a healthy donor's T cells (a type of immune system cell that circulates in the blood) are modified during manufacturing using CRISPR gene editing) so that those T cells will detect and kill cancer cells, and potentially staying in your blood long enough to treat the cancer. CRISPR technology is a tool to edit healthy donor T cell genomes and uses enzymes that act like molecular scissors to cut strands of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) to produce a cancer therapy.  We think that you will be in the study for about 5 years and 1 month."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 131 (T6.04)

By
Day 131 seems like a long way from the start of this journey.  The plan now is to have a PETCT scan on May 11 which will tell us the current status of the disease.  Then meet with the doctor 2 days later to discuss.   I suspect it could mean more treatment or no more treatments for now if things look good.  It could mean something like scheduled scans and treatments as necessary from now on.  Mostly speculation on my part.  I know they are going to leave the port in place for at least a year.  The doctor also mentioned the possibility of 10 days of radiation needed for my right knee.  I assume all will be revealed on the 13th.  No matter what I plan to attend graduation in person on May 14.
Read more

Day 30 (T2.08)

By
Image
Remember to click "Read More" lower right to see the full post. Another day of living the dream.  We start university classes today.  I am all remote due to not needing to be around people carrying all manner of pathogens including covid.  I will be doing a lot of zooming! Still have problems with the swollen feet.   Not getting a response from the doctor's office.  Finally got a response.  They want another echocardiogram and a doppler on my feet.  Some nausea and bone pain today. It is not as bad as the first round though, Low energy level. Not sleeping a full night is getting to me I think. I can hear the blood vessels in my head pound when my head is on the pillow.  Never knew what kinds of sounds I might hear without hair. No music today.  Although I have been listening to some. If you must have some music you might try.  Smooth stuff.
Read more

Day 34 (T2.12)

By
Image
Remember to click "Read More" lower right to see the full post. I think I may have lost track of the days but never mind. I think I am pulling up from the lowest point after the 2nd treatment. Feel a bit better today. Feet are still swollen but maybe not as much I do feel like there is a swollen lymph node on the right side of my neck. Don't know if that is cause for concern. Thought I would talk about another drug they are given me. Oncovin or actually Vincristine; " Vincristine is a member of the vinca alkaloids family of chemotherapy agents. These medications work by interfering with cell division, which leaves the tumor unable to grow and spread. Vincristine was developed from the periwinkle plant."  Vincristine (Oncovin®, Vincasar PFS®, VCR) | OncoLink "Vincristine works partly by binding to the  tubulin  protein, stopping the tubulin dimers from polymerizing to form microtubules, causing the cell to be unable to separate its  chromosomes  during t...
Read more