Somatic cell therapeutics
Somatic cell therapeutics are a type of Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs) that use the body's own cells to treat disease.
Here are some examples of therapeutic applications of somatic cell therapeutics in clinical use.
- Cancer therapy
CAR-T cell therapy is a type of cell therapy in which the body's own T cells are taken, genetically modified and then returned to the body to attack cancer cells. This therapy is used for certain types of leukaemia and lymphoma.
- Eye diseases
Retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells can be used to treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The RPE cells are taken from the patient's eye, genetically modified and then returned to the patient's eye.
- Metabolic diseases
Somatic cell therapeutics can be used for metabolic diseases such as haemophilia and mucopolysaccharidosis. In haemophilia, gene therapy is used to bring the missing clotting factor gene into the liver cells. In mucopolysaccharidosis, genetically modified autologous stem cells are used to replace missing enzymes.
- Neurodegenerative diseases
Somatic cell therapeutics are used to treat neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. In Parkinson's disease, gene therapy is used to replace the missing enzyme in the dopamine-producing cells
