The Principles of Engineering Immune Cells to Treat Cancer

Cell. 2017 Feb 9;168(4):724-740. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.01.016.

Abstract

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells have proven that engineered immune cells can serve as a powerful new class of cancer therapeutics. Clinical experience has helped to define the major challenges that must be met to make engineered T cells a reliable, safe, and effective platform that can be deployed against a broad range of tumors. The emergence of synthetic biology approaches for cellular engineering is providing us with a broadly expanded set of tools for programming immune cells. We discuss how these tools could be used to design the next generation of smart T cell precision therapeutics.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antigens, CD19 / analysis
  • Cell Engineering / methods
  • Humans
  • Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating / immunology
  • Neoplasms / immunology*
  • Neoplasms / therapy*
  • Precision Medicine
  • Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / genetics*
  • Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / immunology
  • Synthetic Biology
  • T-Lymphocytes / cytology*
  • T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • T-Lymphocytes / metabolism
  • Tumor Microenvironment

Substances

  • Antigens, CD19
  • Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell