Who is CAR T-cell therapy for?

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Who is CAR T for?

CAR T-cell therapy (CAR T) isn’t for everyone. It’s available for patients with some blood cancers after they’ve tried at least one other treatment. You can work with your doctor to see if or when CAR T might be an option for you.

Illustration of a nurse discussing who CAR T is for with a patient and caregiver.

Which blood cancers is CAR T available for?

CAR T is currently available to help treat some blood cancers:

CAR T may be available if:

one or more of your treatment(s) did not work, or
your cancer returned

In addition to blood cancers, CAR T is being studied in clinical trials to see if it can be used to treat more types of cancer or other diseases.

Illustration of a doctor discussing blood cancers treatments with a patient.

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How will my doctor know if CAR T is an option for me?

What if I don't meet the requirements for CAR T right now?

What questions might I ask my healthcare team?

Is CAR T right for me?
Are there clinical trials that we should consider?
Who can I talk to if I want a second opinion about my treatment options?

How can I learn about CAR T in ongoing clinical trials?

Some patients may receive CAR T through a clinical trial. CAR T is being studied in clinical trials to learn more about things like:

whether approved CAR T-cell therapies can be used to treat more types of cancer and other diseases
whether CAR T can be used as an earlier treatment option
how CAR T works in combination with other cancer treatments
how to better manage potential side effects
whether new types of CARs (Chimeric Antigen Receptors) can help treat certain cancers

To find out more about CAR T clinical trials, you can:

ask your healthcare team or a medical center offering CAR T
reach out to an advocacy or support group for help understanding and finding clinical trials
visit the National Cancer Institute's Clinical Trials Information page.
visit ClinicalTrials.gov to search for a clinical trial by your cancer type, location, and "CAR T" as the intervention/treatment

Illustration of two researchers discussing clinical trials.

What types of cancer treatments are there?

There are many types of treatment options that could be available to you now, or in the future if you need them. Here are some examples of treatment types that you may hear about from your healthcare team. There may be other types or combinations of treatments as well.

Bring a drug, like chemotherapy, directly inside specific types of cancer cells (also a type of targeted therapy)

Use drugs to bring your cancer-fighting immune cells closer to cancer cells (also a type of immunotherapy)

Adapt T cells from your immune system to fight cancer (also a type of immunotherapy)

Use drugs to kill cells in the body, including cancer

Use drugs to help your immune system fight cancer

Use focused radiation to kill cancer

Use a transplant of cells to replace stem cells destroyed by a high-dose cancer treatment

Use drugs that target and fight specific types of cancer cells

Talk with your healthcare team about your treatment plan, and the order of potential treatments that you are considering. Keep in mind that:

making CAR T cells may be more successful if you have previously tried fewer types of treatments
if you receive bispecific antibodies first that may impact how effective CAR T could be as a later treatment option

What questions might I ask my healthcare team?

What types of treatments should we consider? Is CAR T an option for me?
In what order might someone receive different types of treatments and why? How might CAR T fit into my treatment plan?
If I try another type of treatment first, could that affect whether CAR T is an option later on?
How well do different types of therapies work?