Strengthening artificial immune cells to fight cancer

Scientists in Western Switzerland have discovered how to improve the anti-tumour power of CAR-T cells, artificial immune ''super-cells'' used against blood cancers. Among available immunotherapies, the use of 'CAR-T' cells is proving extremely effective against certain blood cancers, but only in half of patients. A main reason for this is the premature dysfunction of these immune cells, which have been artificially modified in vitro. A team from the Universities of Geneva (UNIGE), Lausanne (UNIL), the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) and the Vaud University Hospital (CHUV), all part of the Swiss Cancer Center Léman (SCCL), has discovered how to prolong the functionality of CAR-T cells. By inhibiting a very specific metabolic mechanism, the team has succeeded in creating CAR-T cells with enhanced immune memory, capable of fighting tumour cells for much longer. These are very promising results, to be read in the journal Nature . CAR-T cell immunotherapy involves taking immune cells - usually T lymphocytes - from a person suffering from cancer, modifying them in the laboratory to increase their ability to recognise and fight tumour cells, then readministering them to the patient.