Tumors, Bramanti (Humanitas): “Short on Car-T for some patients is already reality”

“This short film represents more than a hope, for some patients today the possibility of being cured despite refractoriness to a standard therapy is a reality. Therefore, it certainly represents a journey: it is a complex therapy, a long process, but in some indications, such as for example in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, which does not respond to a traditional line of chemotherapy, it can lead to a cure in 50% of cases”. These are the words of Stefania Bramanti, head of the Cellular Therapy section at Humanitas, on the occasion of the presentation of ‘Luce tra i fratelli. Il viaggio di Mira, dalla scoperta della dieta alla speranza con Car-T’. A 2D animated short film produced by the students of the three-year course in cinema and animation at NABA Pietro Caprari, Alice Chiofalo, Luca Giorgi, Alice Guerrini, Arianna Luna Perrone, Andrea Montani, Federico Mostacchi and Andrea Starace, with the supervision of NABA teachers Malina De Carlo, Simona Duci, Giacomo Manzotti and Jacopo Martinoni, and promoted by Gilead Sciences with the patronage of AIL-Italian Association against leukemia-lymphoma and myeloma and La lampada di Aladino Ets.

A master glassmaker, Mira, and her daughter, Marta, face a major challenge together, the diagnosis of blood cancer. The short film tells the story of the patient journey of the patient who undergoes Car-T, from the moment of diagnosis, to treatment and remission. The protagonists, Mira and Marta, mother and daughter, show the emotions and difficulties that a person with a hematological tumor, together with the caregiver, must face on the long journey towards recovery. A journey made up of obstacles, fears, failures, anxiety and uncertainty about what the future holds. But one day the turning point, the possibility of a cure and a new innovative therapy: Car-T represents the moment in which hope is rekindled.

“There are many patients who can access this treatment, but there could be more than we are able to treat today – underlines Bramanti – The important thing, however, is to identify them in time, so that they can learn about this therapeutic alternative and deal with it in the best possible way”.