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Do cutting-edge CAR-T-cell therapies cause cancer? What the data say

Regulators have identified around 30 cases of cancer linked to this blockbuster treatment. But is CAR T to blame? The hunt is on for answers.
  1. Cassandra Willyard

    1. Cassandra Willyard is a science journalist in Madison, Wisconsin.

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Composite conceptual coloured scanning electron micrograph of T cells and a breast cancer cell

A composite microscope image of engineered T cells (grey) attacking a breast cancer cell. Credit: Steve Gschmeissner/Science Photo Library

US drug regulators dropped a bombshell in November 2023 when they announced an investigation into one of the most celebrated cancer treatments to emerge in decades. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it was looking at whether a strategy that involves engineering a person’s immune cells to kill cancer was leading to new malignancies in people who had been treated with it.

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Nature 629, 22-24 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01215-0

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