{"id":184636,"date":"2023-10-05T13:12:47","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T23:12:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=184636"},"modified":"2023-10-05T14:16:30","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T00:16:30","slug":"car-tcell-cancer-therapy-available","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2023\/10\/05\/car-tcell-cancer-therapy-available\/","title":{"rendered":"Cutting-edge cancer therapy now available through UH<\/abbr> partnership"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Stephanie Si Lim meets with a patient. (Photo credit: Hawaii Pacific Health)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A new type of immunotherapy treatment for cancer patients, Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR<\/abbr>) T-cell therapy, was recently made available in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> through a partnership between the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Cancer Center<\/a> and Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Pacific Healt<\/a>h (HPH<\/abbr>). <\/p>\n

This new treatment allows some of the sickest cancer patients to stay in Hawai\u2018i with family and friends for care instead of traveling to the mainland. <\/p>\n

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Craig Boddy and Si Lim are physicians at Kapiʻolani<\/span> Hospital for Women & Children. (Photo credit: Hawaii Pacific Health)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“CAR<\/abbr> T-cell therapy is a very innovative and specialized type of cellular immunotherapy where we’re able to use a patient\u2019s own immune cells, genetically modify them, and use those modified cells to fight cancer,” said UH<\/abbr> Cancer Center Assistant Researcher Stephanie Si Lim, who is a pediatric hematologist\/oncologist at Kapiʻolani<\/span> Medical Center for Women & Children and medical director of the cellular immunotherapy program at HPH<\/abbr>. “It is very different from traditional chemotherapy because it targets cancer cells with more precision.” <\/p>\n

Lim has spent the last two-and-a-half years building the cellular immunotherapy program<\/a> at the UH<\/abbr> Cancer Center and HPH<\/abbr>. CAR<\/abbr> T-cell therapy is now offered to children with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and adults with B-cell lymphoma and multiple myeloma. Here are a few milestones of this breakthrough program for the state:<\/p>\n