3D-Printed Lymph Nodes Speed CAR T-Cell Therapy
SkimNews Take
The bioengineered structures' ability to efficiently activate T-cells outside the body could decouple CAR T-cell therapy from the patient's own biological processes, enabling more standardized and scalable manufacturing.
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- Judit Guasch Camell and team at the Materials Science Institute of Barcelona 3D print gel structures mimicking human lymph nodes to improve T-cell activation for CAR T-cell therapy
- CAR T-cell therapy typically takes three weeks and costs over £280,000, limiting access to wealthy nations, according to Gillian Griffiths at the University of Cambridge
- David Coe at CoED Biosciences warns that some patients deteriorate before standard CAR T-cell production is complete, highlighting the need for faster alternatives
Why it matters: Cancer patients in lower-income countries and those with rapidly progressing disease stand to gain if 3D-printed lymph nodes cut production from weeks to days and reduce costs by improving cell activation efficiency, potentially expanding access beyond wealthy health systems.
