Major Highlights of the CAR-TCR Summit, Boston, 2016

Abstract

Cellular immunotherapies such as CAR-T cell therapy and TCR-T cell therapy are relatively new, highly promising approaches for the treatment of cancer. In CAR-T cell therapy, a patient's T cells are engineered to express chimeric antigen receptors targeting tumor-associated cell surface antigens. In TCR-T cell therapy, the patient's T cells are engineered to express receptors targeting intracellular antigens. This report will summarize presentations from the recent CAR-TCR summit in Boston on September 13-16, 2016. These presentations were given by leaders in the field and many were divided into three streams: Discovery and Genetic T Cell Engineering; Translation and Clinical Development; and Manufacturing, Supply Chain and Commercialization. The report summarizes major pharmaceutical companies developing these novel therapies and provides challenges and perspectives for future therapeutic developments.

Keywords: Chimeric antigen receptor; T-cell enginering; cancer; cytokine; immunotherapy; tumor antigen.