CAR T-cell therapy: the future of medicine

Written by Emman Allahgul

Med Youth Alliance | April 2026

My inspiration to do research on CAR T-cell therapy ignited from this Great Ormond Street Hospital charity stand near my house. I’d spoken to two phd doctors, Kieran and Dami, who’d shown great passion for the GOSH hospital project, which is a children’s cancer hospital with various innovations such as a school, a garden and providing children spaces to play.

So far the project does still need around 200 million which they are raising through donations from the public.

The GOSH charity stand

They’d kindly shared the case study of Yumna, who was less than 2 years old who was diagnosed with high risk stage 4 neuroblastoma. She was diagnosed in 2021 after being previously misdiagnosed with a virus following her feverish symptoms. Her mother had noticed a lump on her abdomen, a common symptom of neuroblastoma and had become concerned. The lump was uncomfortable to the touch and so Yumna was referred to the GOSH hospital.

Initially she’d started with chemotherapy in which she was doing well in however in the third cycle of chemotherapy, she’d developed hair loss and Veno occlusive disease.

Veno occlusive disease is a fatal liver condition, which is a side effect of chemotherapy, in which small liver veins become blocked.

What is neuroblastoma?

• a cancer that occurs in children under 5

• Starts within neuroblasts (often in adrenal glands above kidneys)

• Symptoms include: lump on abdomen, breathlessness, weakness, numbness, fever

• Diagnosis: blood tests, mri, pet scans, ultrasounds

• unfortunately for advanced cases of cancer, like Yumna’s, chemotherapy doesn’t always work and cause severe side effects

  
  

  What is CAR T-cell therapy:

• the use of genetic engineering on a patients own T cells to treat cancer

• T cells vs B cells: T cells destroy infected cells or aid immune response, unlike B cells that produce antibodies to neutralize pathogens

process:

• collection of blood from patient and separating T cells

• T cells sent to a lab, where they are genetically engineered to produce proteins called chimeric antigen receptors (CAR)

• CARs help cells latch on to specific proteins, antigens, that are present on cancer cells

• Engineered T cells are grown until there are millions of them, they are then returned to the hospital so they can be given to the patient as a single infusion

• T cells continue to expand in patients body and directly kill cancer cells that have target antigens on them

• Process takes about 3-5 weeks

  what are CARs composed of?

• External: composed of a domain of lab made antibodies

• Domains are used for the receptors ability to recognize or bind to its target antigen on tumor cells

• Internal: contains signaling and co-stimulators domains, which transmit signals inside the T cells that help them multiply further in the body

  
  

  

  Side effects

• Cytokine (chemical messengers helping to stimulate and direct immune response) release syndrome

• CRS causes drops in pressure, fevers and can be fatal

• Neurological problems called immune effector cell associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS)

• ICANS causes confusion, excessive sleep, impaired speech Future of CAR T-cell therapy

• To have fewer side effects

• Could be used for any type of blood cancer

• Use of healthy donors for T cell collection

• Use in earlier stages of cancer treatment

• Using this form of treatment without the use of chemotherapy

• Use for other diseases e.g. autoimmune diseases like sclerosis and myasthenia gravis
  

  Sources:

  
  

  https://www.gosh.org/news/meet-yumna/

  
  

  https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/childrens-cancer/neuroblastoma

  
  

  https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/research/car-t-cells