Emerging Cellular Therapies for Cancer

Annu Rev Immunol. 2019 Apr 26:37:145-171. doi: 10.1146/annurev-immunol-042718-041407. Epub 2018 Dec 10.

Abstract

Genetically engineered T cells are powerful new medicines, offering hope for curative responses in patients with cancer. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells were recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and are poised to enter the practice of medicine for leukemia and lymphoma, demonstrating that engineered immune cells can serve as a powerful new class of cancer therapeutics. The emergence of synthetic biology approaches for cellular engineering provides a broadly expanded set of tools for programming immune cells for enhanced function. Advances in T cell engineering, genetic editing, the selection of optimal lymphocytes, and cell manufacturing have the potential to broaden T cell-based therapies and foster new applications beyond oncology, in infectious diseases, organ transplantation, and autoimmunity.

Keywords: CAR-T cell; adoptive cell transfer; chimeric antigen receptor; immune-oncology; leukemia; synthetic biology.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological / therapeutic use*
  • Genetic Engineering
  • Humans
  • Immunotherapy, Adoptive / trends*
  • Neoplasms / immunology
  • Neoplasms / therapy*
  • Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / genetics*
  • T-Lymphocytes / physiology*
  • T-Lymphocytes / transplantation
  • United States
  • United States Food and Drug Administration

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological
  • Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell