CAR T-Cell Therapy Evolves in Leukemia Treatment Landscape

Jae H. Park, MD, hematologic oncologist and attending physician at the Leukemia Service and Cellular Therapeutics Center of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the role of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in leukemias and how he sees this treatment evolving in the coming years.

Park says there is a lot of excitement surrounding CAR T cells right now. While immunotherapy has made a big impact on the treatment landscape for a variety of cancer, but these CAR T-cell therapies targeting CD19 appear promising for the treatment of leukemias.

In the beginning, there were a lot of questions on whether CAR T cells would hold a place in the treatment landscape, but Park says the treatment is here to stay. However, there are still some limitations and challenges that need to be addressed in this space.

For CAR T-cell therapy to be a viable and definitive treatment option, we need to achieve durable responses, says Park. There are many groups now working toward this, so he is hopeful that in the next few years, we will better understand the mechanism of resistance and will be able to address limitations.

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