Children with leukemia treated with innovative CAR-T therapy

At the Princess Máxima Center children with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia have been treated with 'CAR-T' cells for the first time. It's an innovative therapy in which our pediatric oncologists harvest T cells from the patient, alter them and then infuse the resulting CAR-T cells. These modified immune cells can then detect and destroy cancer cells. Pediatric oncologist Peter Hoogerbrugge of the Princess Máxima Center: "The first patients are home again."

Every year about 200 people in the Netherlands suffer from acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). In most cases they are children aged 0 to 18 years.

CAR-T is currently only available for ALL. It may become available for many more forms of childhood cancer in the future.