India has achieved a groundbreaking milestone in the treatment of blood cancer. Indian scientists and doctors have developed an indigenous gene therapy that has shown the potential to completely cure blood cancer in just nine days.
This significant advancement is the result of a collaborative study conducted by the Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The therapy has been named ‘Vel-CAR-T’, marking the first time that CAR-T (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell) therapy has been developed and produced within a hospital in India.
According to the study, after undergoing the therapy, 80% of patients remained cancer-free for up to 15 months. The treatment offers renewed hope to those blood cancer patients who had previously shown resistance to conventional treatment methods.
What is CAR-T Cell Therapy?
Vel-CAR-T is a form of advanced immunotherapy, where a patient’s immune cells are genetically modified in a lab to help them identify and destroy cancer cells. In this process, T-cells are extracted from the patient’s body, engineered using a special technique to target cancer cells, and then reintroduced into the patient. These reprogrammed cells then effectively hunt down and eliminate cancerous cells.
The study results have been published in the “Molecular Therapy – Oncology” journal. As per the publication, CAR-T cells were created within the hospital and used to treat patients suffering from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and Large B-Cell Lymphoma (LBCL).
This revolutionary therapy is a major step forward for cancer treatment in India and signals a new era of affordable, cutting-edge medical innovations developed indigenously.
