CAR T cells generated in vivo
Following earlier approvals in the US, two <acronym>CAR</acronym>-T cell therapeutics obtained marketing authorization from the European Commission in August 2018. The new CAR-T cell therapies provide treatment options for cancer patients who have failed to responded to other treatment options. Immune cells are extracted from the patient, genetically modified to express a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and re-introduced into the patient’s body to fight the cancer cells. Manufacturing these <acronym>CAR</acronym>-T cells is, however, still very expensive and laborious and the treatment Researchers of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (<acronym>PEI</acronym>) succeeded in animal experiments to engineer <acronym>CAR</acronym> T cells directly in the living organism. There results are reported in EMBO Molecular Medicine in its online issue of Monday, 17 September 2018.