3D-printed lymph nodes could widen access to CAR T-cell therapy
CAR T-cell therapy can be very effective against cancer, and it might be about to get more accessible Nemes Laszlo/Shutterstock CAR T-cell therapy, when someone’s immune cells are genetically engineered to kill cancer cells, is highly effective for treating certain types of cancer, but it is too expensive to be widely available worldwide. But utilising 3D printing could mean that these engineered cells are produced for less money and – crucially – faster, making the treatment more accessible. “When you’re treating very sick patients, some patients might never get the therapy because they’ve deteriorated so much in the three or so weeks it might take to make the CAR T therapy,” says David Coe at CoED Biosciences, a biotechnology company in Cardiff, UK, who wasn’t involved in the latest research. CAR T-cell therapy involves extracting immune cells called T-cells from someone’s blood before genetically engineering them to recognise and destroy cancer cells. This is usually done by mixing the cells with tiny beads that activate their proliferation. They are also mixed with a harmless virus …
