Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR)-T cell therapies are new treatments in which a patient's T cells are changed in the laboratory so they will attack cancer cells. T cells are taken from a patient’s blood. Then the gene for a special receptor that binds to a certain protein on the patient’s cancer cells is added in the laboratory.
CAR-T cell therapy for people with multiple myeloma targets a protein called CD229, produced on the surface of both myeloma cells and cancer stem cells — the source of treatment-resistant cells that may lead to disease recurrence — potentially providing long-lasting responses.