CAR-T 19, a treatment for some forms of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

David began his fight against lymphoblastic leukaemia at 5 years of age, receiving chemotherapy treatment with positive results that lasted 6 years. But at the age of 13 he relapsed and received a bone marrow transplant that gave new hope for a cure.
However, David had another relapse, and with all treatment options exhausted, his Oncologist, Dr Susana Rives, offered David and his family the option to participate in a clinical trial on immunotherapy called CAR-T 19.
This clinical trial was being carried out at various hospitals with the pharmaceutical company Novartis and included SJD Barcelona Children’s Hospital, which had the highest number of pediatric patients.
CAR-T 19 is a treatment within the immunotherapy category, a type of treatment that directs the patients’ immune system against the disease.
Immunotherapies modify T lymphocytes, or T cells, so that they attack the cancer cells. In CAR-T 19 this specifically works against leukaemia cells.
CAR-T 19 involves obtaining a patient’s T lymphocytes, modifying them in a laboratory and giving them, by means of genetic manipulation, a receptor that recognises the leukaemia or lymphoma cells, thus redirecting the cell against the tumour.
CAR-T 19 is currently being used in children suffering from type B lymphoblastic leukaemia, specifically in cases where conventional treatments have failed and there has been more than one relapse.