Despite its promise and success in treating otherwise resistant blood cancers, CAR-T therapy comes with a hefty price tag, often exceeding hundreds of thousands of dollars per patient. Understanding why CAR-T therapy is so expensive requires a closer look at the complex processes and factors involved in its development and administration.
Immune cell reprogramming is widely used to enhance immune cell function for disease treatment. This approach is successful for some types of immune cell, such as T-cells, but reprogramming of monocytes, macrophages and other phagocytic cells has historically been difficult. At Cell Guidance Systems, we have simplified the engineering of monocytes and other mononuclear phagocytes by using PODS, sub-micron scale sustained-release protein crystals that durably alter the cell's proteome. This simple technique is opening new research avenues and has the potential to enable cost-effective autologous immune cell therapies to treat a range of diseases.
In our immune system's fight against cancer, autologous immune cell therapy using CAR-T cells has transformed treatment options for patients with leukaemia and lymphoma but is not effective against solid tumors. Could monocytes and their derivatives, notably macrophages, succeed where CAR-T cells have failed? Here we look at the way cancers try to exert dominance over macrophages and the companies rising to the challenge of autologous macrophage therapy.
Optimizing the formulation of drugs is critical to increase their stability and sustain bioavailability. Similarly, taking more care to formulate growth factors can transform their utility too.
In an exciting development, biomaterials scientists have used advanced biomaterials and an ingenious manufacturing method to produce co-axial extruded, cellularized blood vessels incorporating cells derived in situ from fat stem cells from the patient.
Drug delivery to the central nervous system (CNS) is challenging. CNS drugs, for example, that are unable to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) cannot be delivered orally or intravenously. Developing drug delivery technologies that can address the specific challenges of delivery to the CNS is a very active area of research. The interaction between drugs and immune cells modulates pharmacodynamics. A new paper from researchers at Keele University explores the interaction between a candidate drug microparticle technology and brain immune cells.
Liver disease is a significant health concern that affects millions of people worldwide. The liver plays a crucial role in metabolism, detoxification, and bile production, and liver disease can significantly impact liver function. Early diagnosis and treatment are essential for managing liver disease, and nanoparticles and microparticles offer promising therapeutic approaches for early-stage liver disease.
Cancer drugs struggle to reach a tumour's core. Cambridge researchers develop cellular 'Trojan horse' to deliver cancer drugs more effectively.
Look hard enough and microscopic crystals are common in animals, including humans. Naturally occurring crystals in-vivo play important roles in health as well as disease. Recombinant protein crystals are also being used, or are in development, as drug delivery systems providing therapies to treat diseases including diabetes, cancer, osteoarthritis and macular degeneration.
When proteins are used therapeutically, each protein and its target pair present unique challenges for delivery. Placing proteins in the right place (targeting) for a sufficient period (sustained delivery) to achieve efficacy requires solutions appropriate to each drug.
