▲A photo taken at the CAR T-Cell Therapy Center at AMC Cancer Institute shows medical staff gathered for a multidisciplinary consultation for a lymphoma patient in 2022.

The CAR T-Cell Therapy Center at AMC Cancer Institute of Asan Medical Center (AMC) recently marked a major milestone by completing 100 cases of CAR T-cell therapy. This treatment involves extracting immune cells (T-cells) from a patient’s blood, engineering them to express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) that target specific cancer cells, and then reinfusing them into the patient to destroy the cancer cells. CAR T-cell therapy is covered by national health insurance for relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Clinical studies are also underway for various cancers such as follicular lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and hepatocellular carcinoma.

Asan Medical Center began offering CAR T-cell therapy in May 2022 and has now reached the milestone of 100 cases in just over three years. The CAR T-Cell Therapy Center at AMC Cancer Institute has established and is operating South Korea’s first multidisciplinary clinic dedicated to CAR T-cell therapy in collaboration with various departments, including neurology, infectious diseases, and the intensive care unit. The center ensures patient safety throughout the treatment process by adhering to standardized protocols.

Over the past 100 cases, patients ranging in age from less than one year to 85 years have received CAR T-cell therapy. The therapy demonstrated both safety and efficacy, with response rates of 89% in recurrent or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and 60% in recurrent or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.