Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed an implantable biotechnology that produces and releases CAR-T cells for attacking cancerous tumors. In a proof-of-concept study involving lymphoma in mice, the researchers found that treatment with the implants was faster and more effective than conventional CAR-T cell cancer treatment.

T cells are part of the immune system, tasked with identifying and destroying cells in the body that have become infected with an invading pathogen. CAR-T cells are T cells that have been engineered to identify cancer cells and destroy them. CAR-T cells are already in clinical use for treating lymphomas, and there are many clinical trials under way focused on using CAR-T cell treatments against other forms of cancer.

"A major drawback to CAR-T cell treatment is that it is tremendously expensive—hundreds of thousands of dollars per dose," says Yevgeny Brudno, corresponding author of the study and assistant professor in the joint biomedical engineering department at NC State and UNC.

"Due to its cost, many people are shut out from this treatment. One reason for the high cost is that the manufacturing process is complex, time-consuming and has to be tailored to each cancer patient individually," Brudno says. "We wanted to address challenges in CAR-T treatment related to both manufacturing time and cost."

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