Targeted therapies / Immunotherapy for children’s cancers

Targeted therapies

Targeted therapies are drugs that target certain parts of cancer cells that make them different from other cells. In other words, they take advantage of differences between normal cells and cancer cells.

Different targeted therapies work in different ways. Targeted therapies can work to:

• Block or turn off chemical signals that tell the cancer cell to grow and divide
• Change proteins within the cancer cells so the cells die
• Stop new blood vessels growing to feed the cancer cells
• Carry toxins to the cancer cells to kill them

Targeted therapies are not the most common treatment for children. Often they are given along with chemotherapy and radiotherapy as part of a clinical trial. They may be used for some types of leukaemia and solid tumours. 

If a targeted therapy might be helpful, your child will have blood tests to see if the cancer cells might respond to the drug. 

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy treatment helps the immune system to work better to fight cancer cells.

Sometimes cancer cells find a way of hiding from the immune system, allowing cancer to develop or spread. Immunotherapy treatments can change special immune cells to help them attack the cancer directly. They can also change other parts of the immune system to make it more difficult for cancer cells to grow or spread. 

CAR T-cell therapy

What is CAR T-cell therapy?

CAR T-cell therapy is a new specialised cancer treatment for a specific type of leukaemia. It is available at CHI at Crumlin for children in Ireland.

Who is it for?

CAR-T cell therapy may be suitable for children who have a type of leukaemia called B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (B-ALL) if:

• The leukaemia has come back (relapsed) following a stem cell or bone marrow transplant
• The leukaemia is refractory to chemotherapy
• The leukaemia has relapsed twice or more

Research is ongoing to extend this treatment to other cancers.

How does it work?

CAR-T cell therapy is a type of immunotherapy.  This means it works by using the power of the immune system to fight cancer.  CAR-T therapy harnesses the patient’s own immune system. This is different to a bone marrow transplant, where donor cells provide the immune function.

To understand CAR-T cell therapy, it helps to understand what T cells do. T cells are white blood cells that play an important part in fighting infections and diseases, including cancer.

T cells travel around the body to find and kill abnormal cells, such as cancer cells. When they encounter a new infection or disease, the body makes T cells to fight that specific infection or disease.  It then keeps some in reserve so that when there is infection again the body can recognise it and attack it faster and more effectively.  Sometimes cancer cells ‘hide’ from the immune system, so the T cells can’t recognise and attack them.  CAR-T cell therapy involves taking the patient’s own T cells, then changing them in a laboratory so that they are better equipped to seek out and attack these cancer cells.

CHI Crumlin's CAR-T cell therapy video*

* Thank you to CHI Crumlin for granting permission to use their video.

If you need support or more information, contact the CAR-T cell team at CHI Crumlin, or you can get in touch with our Children’s Cancer Nurse by calling our Support Line on Freephone 1800 200 700.