The CAR-T cell revolution: Reprogramming T lymphocytes against cancer

FRANCE 24 English

A revolution in cancer treatment is here. In today’s edition, we take a look at CAR-T cell therapy or how to reprogram T lymphocytes to battle cancer. Monoclonal antibodies and CAR T cells are two immunotherapy strategies that harness the patient's own immune system to help fight against cancer cells.  Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00 Some science news for you now, and there has been a significant advancement in the fight against cancer.

00:05 It's called CAR T cell therapy, and it's a rapidly developing cellular immunotherapy strategy that holds great promise.

00:12 It's trying to combat cancer by harnessing a patient's own immune system.

00:17 We're going to talk about all of this now with Julia Seeger, who joins me on set.

00:20 Julia, first of all, just break it down for us. What is immunotherapy, first of all?

00:23 Well, immunotherapy is a new type of cancer treatment.

00:26 As you said, it's considered to be one of the greatest breakthroughs in the last decade.

00:30 It won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2018, and it's a targeted therapy, if you will.

00:37 It's a targeted therapy, and the way it works is that when...

00:40 So I have to explain to you how the immune system works.

00:43 So the way the immune system works is that when your body is faced with a pathogen,

00:49 let it be bacteria, viruses, or allergens, our bodies have several lines of defenses, right?

00:57 So the first barrier is the skin, of course, and those pathogens, if they do enter the body,

01:04 and maybe we can take a look at this, which explains how the immune system works,

01:10 because I think you will understand better, Jeanne, if we take a look.

01:14 Maybe we can bring it up, but the idea is really to modify certain cells of the patient.

01:20 So here you can see that if the body is faced with a pathogen, it has several lines of defenses.

01:25 The first one, of course, is the skin, but if the pathogen enters the body,

01:28 then the immune system takes over, and kind of like a security checkpoint at the airport,

01:34 it's going to scan every cell, and it's going to be able to identify whether the cell is healthy or unhealthy.

01:39 If it's unhealthy, it's given the order to destroy it.

01:42 Now, the problem, Jeanne, with cancerous cells is that the immune system can't recognize it as being an unhealthy cell.

01:49 The reason why is because it has a camouflage capability thanks to a protein called PD-L1.

01:55 So the immune system can't recognize it as being something unhealthy, that it needs to be destroyed.

02:00 And immunotherapy, the whole goal is to be able to awaken that immune system.

02:05 And so scientists have found two ways of awakening the immune system. What are they?

02:09 Well, there are several ways, and indeed two of them. I'd like to touch on that.

02:14 First, you can inject what we call monoclonal antibodies.

02:18 So you've heard of it because of COVID-19.

02:20 This is how Donald Trump, for instance, was one of the treatments that he received for COVID-19.

02:24 The way it works is that you're going to create antibodies in the lab that are capable of recognizing the cancerous tumor,

02:32 but also of attaching, binding to that tumor, and kind of like sticking a flag in it.

02:36 Either those antibodies are going to be able to get rid of the tumor, or it's going to induce an immunity reaction.

02:43 So it's going to tell the lymphocyte T's to come and destroy that tumor.

02:49 The second technique, and this is what I wanted to tell you about today, is CAR T-cell therapy.

02:53 It's considered a revolution. Now here, you're going to take the T lymphocytes of the patient.

02:58 You're going to modify it in the lab so that it's going to now have on its surface a molecule,

03:04 kind of like an antenna, if you will, that's going to be able to recognize the cancerous cell and open it like a key, and then destroy it.

03:12 So this is a huge breakthrough. We have stunning results.

03:16 It's only used at least here in France on two different blood cancers.

03:19 The first one is it's used for adults and children alike with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

03:25 And the second cancer is a diffuse large cell B lymphomas.

03:30 And of course, the goal is to be able to extend this type of therapy to other types of cancers.

03:35 Julia, thank you so much. It's great to know that there are those incredible revolutions happening,

03:39 especially when it comes to something like cancer with the CAR T-cell revolution.

03:42 Thank you so much, Julia Seeger.

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