CAR T cells need a pitstop to win the race

Abstract

Prolonged TCR-driven stimulation can induce a dysfunctional T cell state, broadly described as T cell exhaustion, limiting the clinical potential of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells. Recent findings in Science indicate that early cessation of CAR T cell tonic signaling can prevent stabilization of exhaustion-associated epigenetic programs, enabling a prolonged anti-tumor response.

Keywords: CAR T cells; differentiation; effector; epigenetics; exhaustion; memory.