CAR-T is a personalized attack on cancer. Here’s how it works

The immune system constantly scans the body for tumor cells, destroying most of them before they can become a detectable cancer, but sometimes it needs a boost. That’s the thinking behind the new generation of cancer treatments called immunotherapies. One of the most promising versions are CAR-Ts (chimeric antigen receptor T cells).

Two CAR-Ts have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration: Yescarta, developed Kite Pharma (which was bought by Gilead), is used to treat adult patients with certain types of large B-cell lymphoma, and Kymriah, from Novartis, is for a form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

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