Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy reprograms a patient’s own T-cells to target tumor antigens. CAR T-cell therapy has shown complete remission rates of 80 to 90 percent in younger patients with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and 40 percent in patients with aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas who have failed multiple prior lines of treatment. The groundbreaking therapy is currently only available in Connecticut at Smilow Cancer Hospital.
The program’s Co-Directors are Stuart Seropian, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, and Iris Isufi , MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine. Katrina Bezak, MS, APRN, is the Program Manager and available to assist with questions. At this time, the therapy is only FDA-approved for patients with childhood (up to age 25) acutelymphoblastic leukemia, the most common cancer in children, or adult B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. However, researchers at Yale are conducting clinical trials to test new CAR T-cell therapies against other cancers, and Dr. Seropian and Dr. Isufi expect CAR T-cell therapies to be approved for a wider array of lymphomas and leukemias, and expanded to include all age groups.
For information please call (203) 200-CART