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THURSDAY, June 13, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- CAR-T cell therapy to treat blood cancers is safer than previously thought, with little risk that the immunotherapy will create secondary cancers, a new study finds. The U.S.

Food and Drug Administration issued a warning in November 2023 about a risk of secondary cancers that might be associated with CAR-T cell therapy. But a study of more than 700 patients treated at Stanford University found that the risk was just over 6% in the three years after a cancer patient received CAR-T cell immunotherapy, researchers reported June 13 in the New England Journal of Medicine . That risk is roughly similar to that of patients who receive stem cell transplants rather than CAR-T cell therapy to treat their blood cancers, researchers said.



“These are lifesaving therapies that come with a very low risk of secondary cancers. The challenge lies in how to predict which patients are at higher risk, and why,” said researcher Dr. Ash Alizadeh , a professor of medicine at Stanford.

In CAR-T cell therapy, immune cells called T-cells are harvested from a patient and genetically engineered to more efficiently seek out and kill cancer cells. This therapy typically is used to treat blood cancers like leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma, according to the American Cancer Society. But one concern is that if the genetic engineering is imprecise, the T-cells meant to attack a person’s cancer might instead become cancerous themselves.

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