Newswise — New Brunswick, N.J., August 19, 2024 – Rutgers Cancer Institute, the state’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center together with RWJBarnabas Health, has treated its 200th patient with CAR T-cell therapy, a type of immunotherapy that uses a patient’s own immune cells to fight cancer.
Harnessing the immune system to target cancer is the goal of a groundbreaking area of research called cell therapy. This process includes collecting T-cells from a patient’s blood through an infusion-like process called apheresis, and the cells are sent to a laboratory. In the lab, scientists modify the T-cells by adding a special receptor called chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) which enables the modified T-cells to seek out and kill cancer cells. The patient’s reengineered CAR T-Cells are returned to them through an infusion, and the cells begin to multiply and attach to cancer cells to destroy them.
76-year-old patient Michael Hreha was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2019. When his disease became resistant to chemotherapy, he discussed the available options with his doctor, Andrew M. Evens, DO, MBA, MSc, deputy director for clinical services, Rutgers Cancer Institute; and system director of medical oncology, and oncology lead for the RWJBarnabas Health Medical Group, and knew that CAR-T cell immunotherapy was the best option for him.
“I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to receive CAR T-cell therapy close to home at Rutgers Cancer Institute,” said Hreha. “This treatment has given me a chance to fight back against my cancer and spend more time with my two sons and four grandchildren. I'm looking forward to the future with renewed optimism."
"Reaching 200 CAR T-cell treatments is a major milestone for Rutgers Cancer Institute and RWJBarnabas Health,” notes Evens, who is a national leader in lymphoma treatment and research. “It demonstrates our commitment to offering cutting-edge therapies close to home and providing hope to patients, like Michael, who may have felt their options were exhausted."
At Rutgers Cancer Institute together with RWJBarnabas Health, experts are among the nation’s most experienced in treating blood cancers with immunotherapy. Because it is a highly personalized treatment, it is available at a limited number of cancer centers with specialized expertise in cellular therapies.
“As a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, we have the scientific community, partners and facilities to pioneer new strategies not available elsewhere,” notes Rutgers Cancer Institute Director Steven K. Libutti, MD, FACS, who is also the senior vice president of oncology services at RWJBarnabas Health. “We’re driving the development of next-generation CAR T-cell therapies through on-site research, which will further propel us into the future of cancer discovery and care as we open the Jack and Sheryl Morris Cancer Center in 2025.”
CAR T-Cell therapy has shown remarkable success in treating advanced cases of cancers like blood cancers, lung cancer, melanoma, advanced bladder cancers and more. Rutgers Cancer Institute is uniquely positioned to advance the discovery and development of cell therapies through its own state-of-the-art Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) facility, a fully commissioned clean space for manufacturing of viral vectors and cell products for human administration.
Researchers at Rutgers Cancer Institute together with RWJBarnabas Health are currently working to identify how immunotherapy may work in treating more common types of cancer. There are many immunotherapy treatments available as well as several immunotherapy clinical trials at Rutgers Cancer Institute.
About Rutgers Cancer Institute
As New Jersey’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, Rutgers Cancer Institute, together with RWJBarnabas Health, provides patients access to the most advanced treatment options including clinical trials close to home at our facilities throughout the state. Our groundbreaking cancer research is the engine that drives access to the most advanced cancer treatments, where our discoveries become your care. This will be enhanced with the opening of the state’s first freestanding cancer hospital, the Jack and Sheryl Morris Cancer Center, in 2025. Rutgers Cancer Institute and RWJBarnabas Health – let’s beat cancer together. To make a tax-deductible gift to support cancer research and care please visit transformingcancertogether.org
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