CAR-T cell therapy

When Cancer Research Depends on Quality RNA: Maxwell® RSC in the Lab

Posted on by Promega

Reliable molecular research starts with reliable sample preparation. Two recently published cancer biology studies illustrate this well, and both studies relied on the Maxwell® RSC platform to extract RNA from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue, the archival format that makes up the bulk of clinical pathology material.

With Maxwell Instruments and chemistries for FFPE samples, RNA quality is suitable for many critical assays.

Mapping Molecular Targets in a Rare Thyroid Cancer

A 2025 study published in Endocrine Pathology focused on poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma (PDTC), a rare and aggressive thyroid cancer subtype with limited treatment options once surgery is no longer curative (1). The research question was straightforward but clinically urgent: how many PDTC cases harbor mutations that could be targeted with existing or emerging therapies?

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Treating Solid Tumors: Combining CAR-T Cell Therapy with Probiotics

Posted on by Johanna Lee

Chimeric Antigen Recepter (CAR)-T cell therapy is a personalized immunotherapy that harnesses the patient’s own immune system to combat cancer. It is done by engineering the patient’s T cells to specifically target and attack cancer cells in their body, and it has shown great success in treating various blood cancers such as leukemia.

Treating solid tumors with CAR-T cells, however, has proved much more challenging. This is mainly because solid tumors contain a heterogeneous population of cells, expressing a variety of antigens—many of which are also expressed in healthy cells. Therefore, T cells targeting solid tumors could potentially attack healthy tissue, resulting in serious side effects. In addition, solid tumors create a hostile microenvironment that is difficult for CAR-T cells to infiltrate.

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Supporting CAR-T Cell Therapy with STR Analysis

Posted on by Riley Bell

Engineered T-cell therapies, specifically CAR-T cell therapies, have emerged as a breakthrough treatment for several blood cancers including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), mantle cell lymphoma, follicular lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and multiple myeloma (1). CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) T-cell therapy involves collecting T cells from a patient and re-engineering them to detect and destroy cancer cells.

While these therapies have improved progression-free and overall survival in many cases, their complex manufacturing workflows and rapid expansion into new cancer types have introduced a demand for quality control, identity testing and process traceability (1).

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