DIPG or diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma is a rare and highly aggressive type of brain cancer in children. It affects a part of the brain stem called the pons, which links the brain with the spinal cord. Â
There is no cure yet for DIPG, which is estimated to affect 300 children worldwide annually. Radiation therapy is the primary treatment option that only provides relief from symptoms but does not eradicate the tumour.  Â
A research team from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI), Melbourne, Australia, employed CAR-T cell therapy to treat DIPG in its experiments on mice. Â
Its study published in Neuro-Oncology Advances offers new hope in treating this dreaded form of cancer.Â
CAR-T or chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy is generally used to treat blood cancers. The method is gaining popularity due to its high success rates. However, the current study is the first to employ the technique for DIPG conditions.Â
Modifying immunityÂ
“Unlike radiation, which is a blunt instrument that kills [both] cancerous and healthy brain tissue, CAR-T cell therapy uses a patient’s immune cells and engineers them to recognise and kill the tumour,” says Dr Misty Jenkins, associate professor of immunology, WEHI, in a statement.Â
Dr Jenkins explains that these genetically modified white blood cells act as a ‘living drug’. First, CAR-T immune cells are isolated from people with cancer. Then the immune cells are modified to target and destroy cancer cells. Finally, the altered cells are re-inserted into the person’s body to attack the tumour cells. Â
Also, this means the person’s body will retain the memory of the anti-tumour response, which can kill the tumour if encountered again, explains Dr Jenkins. Â
CAR-Ting off cancer Â
In the current study, the researchers introduced a human tumour marked with a fluorescent dye into the brains of diseased mice. With the help of fluorescence microscopy, they observed the tumour progress over six weeks. Then, they introduced the CAR-T cells into mice brains and studied the tumour’s size after another six weeks.Â
The tumour had reduced in size.Â
The researchers found that CAR-T cells recognised a cancer-specific protein called HER2 in DIPG. These cells had targeted and killed the cancer cells without harming the healthy tissues.Â
Dr Jenkins tells Happiest Health that CAR-T therapy is not a new concept in cancer therapy. “However, our study shows that we could expand this therapy to HER2, a known and clinically relevant target, for DIPG,” she adds. Â
A CAR-T of hope Â
“It is our hope that this study will provide a rationale for kids with DIPG to be included in HER2 CAR-T cell clinical trials for brain tumours,” she says.Â
Dr Jenkins says they would also like to see a clinical trial in their BrainChild04 project in Australia.Â
“We plan to investigate whether combining HER2 CAR-T with other forms of therapy will have a greater benefit and tumour reduction,” she says. Â