CAR T-cell Therapy for Multiple Myeloma

Cellular therapies at Roswell Park

We offer this cutting-edge treatment for several cancer types.

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Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy uses your own living T cells (a type of immune cell) instead of drugs to destroy and control cancer cells. 

The first CAR T-cell therapy to receive FDA approval for use in patients with multiple myeloma was Abecma and now another, Carvykti, is available.

How CAR T-cell therapy works

Jens Hillengass, MD explains how Abecma works.

In these treatments, your immune system’s healthy cancer-killing T cells are collected through apheresis, a procedure that’s very much like donating blood. 

Your cells are re-engineered in a laboratory, where they are “taught” to attack a certain protein (antigen) that’s found on the surface of the myeloma cells — the protein called B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA). 

Then the T cells are multiplied until there are millions of them and returned to your body through a one-time intravenous (IV) infusion.

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