Living Medicines Engineered to Fight: A Comprehensive Review on CAR T-Cell Therapy

Abstract

The plethora of advancements in cancer treatment has resulted in designing unique signatures and personalized therapies, tailored to patient-specific needs, using medications that target specific markers on cancer cells or even retrain the body's immune system. Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell, also called as CAR T-cell, is one such approach wherein a patient's cells are modulated to kill the cancer cells. Conventional cancer treatments invite issues like low specificity, increased chances of relapse, or issues with radiotoxicity and tolerance in the case of chemotherapy. Currently, CAR T-cell therapy is under clinical investigation, and different countries are still coming up with their guidelines for the pragmatic application of CAR T. In this review, we present all one needs to know about CAR T-cell therapy, its types, components, side effects, current authorization status in different countries, along with the technology being used in the therapy. We also briefly upon the recent regulations or guidelines released by Europe and the USA, the countries that have actively initiated the CAR T idea. This review aims to provide insight into this targeted therapy, which has the potential to boost cancer research and to help researchers develop more such patient-specific treatments to improve clinical outcomes in cancer.