{"id":170450,"date":"2025-07-11T09:38:36","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T15:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/?p=170450"},"modified":"2025-08-05T10:31:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T16:31:23","slug":"advanced-therapies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/health\/advanced-therapies\/","title":{"rendered":"Advanced Therapies: When Cells Learn to Fight Cancer on Their Own"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 2010, Doug Olson, an American man based in California, became one of the first people to be cured of cancer with a novel immunotherapy called CAR-T cells<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Olson had battled for years with chronic lymphocytic lymphoma \u2014a type of blood cancer that affects B lymphocytes, the white blood cells that create antibodies\u2014 that didn’t respond to existing treatments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After receiving said therapy, his cancer disappeared, and he remained in remission for over a decade. Today, he’s still alive and active. He even runs marathons<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jos\u00e9 Carlos Crisp\u00edn-Acu\u00f1a, researcher at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences. (Photo: ResearchTec.mx)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

His case marked the beginning of a new era in the battle against cancer. \u00a0\u201cHe was about to die, and they gave him this thing, and he was cured,\u201d says Jos\u00e9 Carlos Crisp\u00edn-Acu\u00f1a<\/a>, a research professor at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences<\/a> (EMCS) at Tec de Monterrey and the Salvador Zubir\u00e1n National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition<\/a> (INCMNSZ). \u00a0\u201cIt became a therapy that many people began to believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In CAR-T cell therapy, T cells \u2014a type of white blood cell that detects and destroys abnormal or invading cells\u2014 are extracted from the sick patient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the laboratory, these cells are modified to express a receptor, called CAR, which recognizes an antigen present on the cells to be attacked \u2014tumor cells in the case of cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These modified cells then multiply and are reinfused into the patient. Once inside, they can recognize and destroy malignant cells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, in countries where it’s available, such as the United States and some in Europe, it can cost up to a million dollars<\/strong>. Fortunately, \u00b7there are those of us who are developing these therapies on a non-profit basis, intending to make them available to people,\u201d says Crisp\u00edn-Acu\u00f1a.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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