Sarahjewel is a Redditor and is going through cancer treatment for the fourth time. She made a post on Reddit consisting picture of a white transparent liquid that she claimed is finally going to set her free from cancer for once and for all. The internet is just going crazy about her Reddit post and has around 160K likes already.
The white transparent liquid in the bag is her immune cells, or we can say genetically altered T cells. T cells are immune cells that predominantly combat viral infections and tumor cells. They have specific surface proteins that continuously scan the body for things that are out of normal functioning.
They induce cytokine release in the event of a potentially unwanted encounter. However, some tumor cells find ways to stay under the radar of T cells. Till now, scientists have developed two ways to alter these T cells to make them more effective in combatting cancerous cells.
First, one of them is called Chimeric Antigen Receptor therapy, and the second one is Gene-Modified T Cell Receptor therapy. Essentially, the difference between them is the targeted Antigen.
The treatment that Sarah will go through is called TCR therapy. The trial on ADP-A2M4 SPEAR T cell efficacy is on its Phase 2. In this process, T cells of the patients are harvested and modified in a laboratory setting, then they are infused back into the bloodstream as cancer hunter cells.
Cancer from which Sara has been suffering is called Synovial Sarcoma and is one of the deadliest forms of cancer. Its occurrence chances are one in a million per annum. In Sara’s body, the initial location of cancer was below her arch. Sara is also keen to enroll in clinical trials.