CAR T-cell therapy for solid tumour cancers

CAR T-cell therapies have revolutionized blood cancer treatment. Now, researchers with our Human Health Therapeutics Research Centre are collaborating with BC Cancer to apply this approach to solid tumours like ovarian and pancreatic cancers.

With support from our Cell and Gene Therapy Challenge program, researchers are carefully designing and testing novel CAR-T therapies for solid tumour cancers. It demands many long and often painstaking hours in the lab and can take months, years or even longer to identify a promising therapeutic candidate and compile the comprehensive data needed for regulatory approval to begin human clinical trials. But throughout this time, our researchers continue to keep in mind the long-term benefits of the day-to-day work.

In the early days of this R&D, patients play a vital role in the researchers' work by bringing in lived experience, perspectives and priorities that help guide research questions, design choices and outcome measures. The involvement of patients ensures that scientific work remains aligned with real-world patient needs, increases the relevance and impact of research findings and fosters trust and transparency between researchers and these patient partners.

As a patient partner with the NRC and BC Cancer, I get to give back to the community that saved my life.

I was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2015, when I was pregnant with my second child. I was sick throughout my pregnancy, and doctors struggled to figure out why. At 36 weeks pregnant, I was admitted to the hospital to find the source of my pain and sickness.

One week later, during an emergency surgery, they delivered my daughter—a healthy 6 lb, 11 oz baby—and removed a 6 lb ovarian cancer tumour.

What followed was months of gruelling chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, all with a toddler and a newborn at home. Thankfully, my husband was at my side through everything.

Despite everything I went through—the treatments, missing the first 6 months of my daughter's life, my loss of fertility, a complete hysterectomy at 36 and entering into medical menopause—I still knew I was one of the lucky ones. I've been able to see my daughter confidently walk into kindergarten 5 years after my initial diagnosis, and recently we celebrated her 10th birthday and the 10th anniversary of my diagnosis.

But not everyone is so lucky. The options for ovarian cancer patients are disappointingly and frustratingly limited. The type of chemotherapy I was given has been the standard of care for decades, with little improvements or advancements.

Ovarian cancer is still the deadliest female cancer, with a five-year survival rate of only 45%. This needs to change.

My commitment to my "teal sisters," a loving term we ovarian cancer patients use to refer to each other with, was to advocate and work on behalf of those who weren't as lucky as I was.

The opportunity to offer any support or insight into the patient experience for researchers is not something I take lightly. I'm not a scientist. I can't change the treatment options available or give hope to families struggling with this disease. But I can share my story and hope to inspire the brilliant researchers who are working tirelessly on our behalf.

Ovarian cancer has long been one of the most challenging cancers to study, but that's changing. Today, the brightest minds are rising to meet our challenge. Right here in Canada, researchers are leading bold, innovative projects—including using CAR T-cells to target ovarian tumours for the very first time.

This is life-changing science. And it's happening in our own backyard. It's breakthrough research that could change the ovarian cancer experience for teal sisters worldwide.

That's why I give. That's why I partner with researchers. Because I know how much is at stake. And I believe in a future where 45% is no longer the best we can do.