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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