Research advances in chimeric antigen receptor-modified T-cell therapy (Review)

Exp Ther Med. 2021 May;21(5):484. doi: 10.3892/etm.2021.9915. Epub 2021 Mar 16.

Abstract

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T-cells are T-cells that have been genetically engineered to express CAR molecules to target specific surface antigens on tumor cells. CAR T-cell therapy, a novel cancer immunotherapy, has been attracting increasing attention, since it exhibited notable efficacy in the treatment of hematological tumors in clinical trials. However, for this type of therapy, challenges must be overcome in the treatment of solid tumors. Furthermore, certain side effects associated with CAR T-cell therapy, including cytokine release syndrome, immune effector cell-related neurotoxicity syndrome, tumor lysis syndrome and on-target off-tumor toxicity, must be taken into consideration. The present study provides a systematic review of the principle, clinical application, current challenges, possible solutions and future perspectives for CAR T-cell therapy.

Keywords: adoptive cellular therapy; chimeric antigen receptor-modified T-cells; immunotherapy; tumor.

Publication types

  • Review

Grants and funding

Funding: This work was supported by the National College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program (grant no. 202010366031), the Science and Technology Project of the Health Planning Committee of Sichuan (grant nos. 19PJ057 and 20PJ177), Sichuan Science and Technology Program (grant nos. 2018SZ0377 and 2018JY0219) and Nanchong Science and Technology Program (grant nos. 19SXHZ0451 and 18SXHZ0366).