Improving T cell therapy for cancer.
Adoptive transfer of antigen-specific T cells has been most effective in treating cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated lymphoproliferative disease (LPD). Both of these diseases develop only during periods of acute immune suppression, and both involve highly immunogenic infected cells, and thus respond well to T cell therapies. In contrast, tumours that develop in the presence of a competent immune system evolve complex immune evasion strategies to avoid and subvert T cell-mediated killing. Therefore, even T cells that display potent cytotoxic activity against tumour cells in vitro may not be effective in vivo without altering the tumour:T cell balance in favour of the T cell. This review discusses several new areas of research aimed at improving adoptive T cell therapy for the treatment of cancer, including the genetic modification of antigen-specific T cells to allow them to perform better in vivo, and conditioning the host to improve in vivo expansion and function of transferred cells.
Foster
Aaron E
AE
Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, The Methodist Hospital and Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
Rooney
Cliona M
CM
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D016219:Immunotherapy, Adoptive / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000628:therapy*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000637:transplantation*; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000637:transplantation