Source: THE TIMES OF INDIA-21st December,2019
In a
breakthrough in research, IIT-Bombay scientists have developed technology to
leverage a patient’s immune system to cure cancer. Such immunotherapy using CAR
T-cells, a treatment for cancer, which costs Rs 3-4 crore in US, can be made
available for Rs 15 lakh, if the technology is developed in the country.
Researchers made use of gene and cell therapies to
reengineer immune cells to attack and kill cancer cells in the body. The
treatment is less painful than surgery, chemotherapy or radiation, and is known
to lower chances of a relapse. The therapy, which seems promising in the
treatment of cancer, especially leukaemia, is currently not available in India.
With the growing burden of cancer in the country, success in even a fraction of
the patients using the technique will be remarkable, experts said.
Prof Rahul Purwar and his team of scientists from the
institute’s Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering have conducted
laboratory tests and hope to start clinical trials in collaboration with Dr
Gaurav Narula from Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) next year, after getting
permission from Drug Controller General of India (DCGI). A facility has been
created for it at the hospital’s Kharghar campus.
T-cells (type of white blood cell or WBC), an integral part
of the human immune system, can identify tumours and destroy them. But in
advanced stages, the cancer cells adapt to the presence of T-cells and remain
undetected. In the new approach in immunotherapy, called CAR (chimeric antigen
receptors) T-cell therapy, the T-cells’ ability to detect and kill cancer cells
is restored. CARs are protein that assist T-cells to recognise and attach to
protein or antigen, present on cancer cells. These proteins help destroying
cancer cells.
Purwar’s team has been working on CAR T-cell technology for
six years. “It is an autologous cell therapy for personalised medicine, where
cells are taken from patients, re-engineered and re-infused in the patient. We
got immune cells from volunteers and clinical patients with help from TMH and
re-engineered them using the technique. The modified cells were positively
tested in laboratories on artificially grown cancer cells,” said Purwar.
“Our team has delved into strategies that would improve
efficacy of the technique and demonstrated that a single injected dose can lead
to multiplication of modified Tcells that can destroy cancer cells,” said
Purwar.
A private firm is planning to in-licence the technology and
is trying to make the therapy available for Indian patients for about Rs 35
lakh. Purwar and two researchers are working on the technology as part of their
start-up ImmunoAdaptive Cell Therapy or ImmunoACT, which was incubated at
IIT-B.
Globally, over 600 clinical trials are in progress for CAR
T-cell therapy, many of which are on in China, said Dr Narula from TMH.
“It has got huge potential. With the cancer burden we have,
the therapy will be considered a success, even if it applicable to only a
fraction of patients currently. Technologies are being developed globally, but
are exorbitant. The only way to cut costs is by developing the technology in
India, which is why we have teamed up with IIT-B about four and a half years
ago, long before the first therapy was approved for clinical use in US. There
are high expectations from this technology as it can create pathways for
developing newer technologies, for newer therapies, for more forms of cancer.
Thousands of Asians can benefit,” said Narula.
He added that the therapy’s side effects can be managed. “It
has worked on patients where two lines of treatments have failed. Even in the
limited group, it works spectacularly,” said Narula.
