The US private healthcare operator is to offer the immunotherapy that harnesses a patient’s own immune cells to fight blood cancer initially in London.
HCA Healthcare is to offer Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for eligible myeloma patients – an immunotherapy that harnesses the body’s own immune system to fight blood cancer.
CAR T-cell therapy is initially available at University College Hospital in London before expanding to The Christie Private Care in Manchester later this year.
“CAR T-cell therapy is a significant breakthrough in blood cancer treatment, offering a highly personalised and targeted approach that harnesses the power of the immune system to fight cancer,” said Ashutosh Wechalekar, consultant haematologist at HCA UK at University College Hospital Private Care.
Myeloma is Britain’s second most common blood cancer and affects 24,000 people in the UK at any given time. It is currently incurable and develops in plasma cells (part of the immune system) within bone marrow, causing abnormal proteins that can damage the body. While current treatments aim to manage the disease.
Engineered white blood cells
In the first step, a patient’s T-cells, a type of white blood cell that plays a key role in the immune system, are collected from their blood. Then, in a specialised laboratory, the T-cells are genetically engineered to produce chimeric antigen receptors (CARs). These receptors enable the T-cells to recognise and attack specific proteins found on the surface of cancer cells.
Those modified T-cells are multiplied in large quantities to ensure there are enough to target the cancer effectively and then infused back into the patient’s bloodstream, where they seek out and destroy cancer cells.
Once in the body, the CAR T-cells identify and bind to the cancer cells, triggering an immune response to eliminate them.
Previously successful in treating lymphoma and leukaemia, CAR T-cell therapy has achieved durable remissions and may be curative in some cases.
“We’ve seen incredible results using CAR T-cells to treat other blood cancers, lymphoma and leukaemia, this therapy represents a transformative step forward for myeloma, giving new hope to patients,” Wechalekar added.
