Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021;41(1):41-67.
doi: 10.1615/CritRevImmunol.2021037437.

Strategies to Enhance the Therapeutic Efficacy, Applicability, and Safety of Genetically Engineered Immune Cells

Sarah Caroline Gomes de Lima  1 , Daianne Maciely Carvalho Fantacini  1 , Laís de Castro Batista  1 , Roberta Maraninchi Silveira  1 , Izadora Peter Furtado  1 , Rafaela Rossetti  1 , Heloísa Brand  1 , Dimas Tadeu Covas  1 , Lucas Eduardo Botelho de Souza  1
Affiliations
Review

Strategies to Enhance the Therapeutic Efficacy, Applicability, and Safety of Genetically Engineered Immune Cells

Sarah Caroline Gomes de Lima et al. Crit Rev Immunol. 2021.

Abstract

The field of cell therapy is leading a paradigm shift in drug development. The recent convergence of several fields, including immunology, genetics, and synthetic biology, now allows for the introduction of artificial receptors and the design of entire genetic circuitries to finely program the behavior of injected cells. A prime example of these next-generation living drugs comes in the form of T cells expressing chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), which have already demonstrated definitive evidence of therapeutic efficacy against some hematological malignancies. However, several obstacles still restrict the antitumor efficacy of and impair the widespread use of CAR-T cells. Critical challenges include limited persistence and antitumor activity in vivo, antigen escape, scarcity of suitable single markers for targeting, and therapy-related toxicity. Nevertheless, intense research activity in this field has resulted in a plethora of creative solutions to address each of these limitations. In this review, we provide a comprehensive snapshot of the current strategies used to enhance the therapeutic efficacy, applicability, and safety of genetically engineered immune cells to treat cancer.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

Publication types

Substances

LinkOut - more resources