Car T Cell Therapy Side Effects

Car t cell therapy can cause a serious side effect known as cytokine release syndrome.

Car t cell therapy side effects.

This syndrome is caused when the transferred t cells or other immune cells responding to the new t cells release a large amount of cytokines into the blood. Again tumor lysis is a side effect showing that the car t cell treatment is working perhaps too well. Cytokine release syndrome crs you may have heard of the cytokine storm in 2018 when many people got seriously ill during flu season. Cytokine release syndrome which is similar to flu like symptoms headache.

These include neurotoxicity which can result in headache confusion and. The possible side effects that your doctor will discuss with you include. Car t cell therapy can trigger a range of side effects many of which begin subtly but can rapidly worsen. A potentially serious complication is cytokine release syndrome crs also known as a cytokine storm.

Because it s affecting your immune system car t can cause other changes in your body too. This happens when car t cells begin attacking cancer and trigger an. Neurologic events can also be experienced and can be serious in some patients. Neurologic events include encephalopathy.

Low white blood. Cytokine release syndrome crs. Some side effects can be severe or fatal. Cytokines are immune substances that have many different functions in the body.

Serious side effects of this release can include very high fevers and dangerously low blood pressure in the days after treatment is given. Some people have had serious side effects from this treatment especially as the car t cells multiply in the body to fight the cancer. As car t cells multiply they cause massive amounts of chemicals called cytokines to be released into the blood. While the therapy can lead to long lasting remissions for some patients with very advanced cancer it can also cause neurologic side effects such as speech problems tremors delirium and seizures.

Despite the therapeutic successes of car t cell therapy the intervention carries the risk of severe side effects. The most common side effects seen are.