What are the side effects of car t cell therapy in lymphoma patients.
Car t cell therapy lymphoma side effects.
The resulting onslaught can produce dangerously high fevers extreme fatigue difficulty breathing and a sharp drop in blood pressure.
Cytokine release syndrome fever and chills low blood pressure and low oxygen levels nervous system problems which might include brain problems encephalopathy headache twitching or shaking tremor.
Car t cell therapy side effects.
The most common side effects seen are.
Cytokine release syndrome crs you may have heard of the cytokine storm in 2018 when many people got seriously ill during flu season.
Low white blood.
To prepare the body for car t cell therapy patients receive a small dose of chemotherapy which may cause other side effects such as fatigue and low blood count.
As car t cells multiply they cause massive amounts of chemicals called cytokines to be released into the blood.
Neurologic events can also be experienced and can be serious in some patients.
Neurologic events include encephalopathy.
Car t cell therapy involves extracting a cancer patient s white blood cells and reprogramming the t cells the roving warriors of the immune system with an antibody like protein called chimeric antigen receptor or car.
The modified cells are returned to the patient s body a process that takes less than 10 minutes.
Some side effects can be severe or fatal.
Once they enter the body car t cells initiate a massive release of proteins called cytokines which summon other elements of the immune system to join the attack on tumor cells.
Serious side effects of this release can include very high fevers and dangerously low blood pressure in the days after treatment is given.
Common side effects of car t cells which can affect more than 1 in 5 people include.
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.
Cytokine release syndrome which is similar to flu like symptoms headache.