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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/10/cancer-treatment-car-t-cell-therapy-sam-neill>
"“Game-changer.” That’s how Prof Misty Jenkins, an immunologist at the Walter
and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, describes CAR T-cell therapy, an
emerging but still costly cancer treatment that supercharges the body’s immune
system to fight disease.
Late last month, Jurassic Park actor Sam Neill put the treatment in the
spotlight, revealing his stage three cancer was in remission after undergoing
CAR T-cell therapy as part of a clinical trial in Sydney. He stopped short of
describing his remission as a miracle – the success, he said, was “science at
its best”.
The history of CAR (for “chimeric antigen receptor”) T-cell therapy is one of
small discoveries accumulating over decades, leading to major advances in
patient care. Pioneered in the 1990s, the therapy has exploded in the past
decade. Four CAR T-cell therapies have been approved by the Therapeutic Goods
Administration for use in Australia since 2018. All are for blood cancers.
The success of those therapies is increasing enthusiasm among researchers and
clinicians that CAR T-cell therapies will soon become a major weapon in the
battle against cancer. It is now being tweaked to combat solid tumours, with
promising early signs of success tempered by the difficulties in tailoring
T-cells to find their target. The future may even see it become an injectable.
“It’s such an exciting time for cancer immunotherapy, because I really feel
like we’ve just scratched the surface on what’s possible,” Jenkins says."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
