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The Cancer Warrior Unleashed

Immunotherapy at The Princess Margaret

Boosting

the Arsenal

When the immune system unleashes a response

against a threat, it sends the T-cell to do its bidding.

The T-cells are a key part of the immune system’s

arsenal, able to attack and kill cancer cells.

In fact, there are T-cells found in tumors that can

kill cancer cells. The problem is that there are often

not enough of them inside a tumor to get the job done.

That’s where adoptive T-cell therapy comes in – it’s

a method of boosting the number of T-cells inside

a patient. “We’re trying to engineer an immune

response by taking cells from a patient and modifying

them in such a way, so that they can fight the cancer

more effectively,” says Dr. Marcus Butler of Princess

Margaret Cancer Centre.

In this type of immunotherapy, T-cell samples are

taken from a patient’s tumor and laboratory methods

are used to boost their overall numbers and their

tumor-fighting abilities. They are then put back into

the patient.

This type of immunotherapy has shown good

results in patients treated at major cancer centres

around the world. The complex technology needed

to produce T-cells for clinical use can only be

found in comprehensive cancer centres like The

Princess Margaret.

ADOPTIVE T-CELL THERAPY

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