Carl June

CAR-T cells for therapy

Advances in the understanding of basic immunology have ushered in two major approaches for cancer therapy over the past 10 years. The first is checkpoint therapy to augment the function of the natural immune system. The second uses the emerging discipline of synthetic biology and the tools of molecular biology and genome engineering to create new forms of engineered cells with enhanced functionalities.  The emergence of synthetic biology approaches for cellular engineering provides a broadly expanded set of tools for programming immune cells for enhanced function. Barriers to therapy of solid tumors will be discussed.

Reference: Good CR, Aznar MA, Kuramitsu S, et al.  An NK-like CAR T cell transition in CAR T cell dysfunction. Cell. 2021;184(25):6081-100.e26.