New MUSC trial presenting possible treatment for B-cell lymphoma [Video]

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – A new clinical trial at the Medical University of South Carolina is looking at an innovative way to treat lymphoma.

This trial uses Chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy which essentially uses a patient’s own immune system and body to fight off the cancer. MUSC’s Dr. Brian Hess, M.D., and Shikhar Mehrotra, Ph.D., have added a twist to CAR-T therapy and are manufacturing the cancer-fighting cells a little differently to be even more effective.

CAR-T therapy has already proven to increase the cure rate of B-cell lymphoma from 15% to 40% and Hess and Mehrotra believe that their approach can increase these percentages even more. CAR-T cell therapy is a different approach from conventional treatments because there is no medicine involved; it is just the patient’s own cells. They manufacture the cells and return them to the patient’s body where these cells are able to find …