title: CAR-T therapy for leukemia: progress and challenges.
abstract: Despite the rapid development of therapeutic strategies, leukemia remains a type of difficult-to-treat hematopoietic malignancy that necessitates introduction of more effective treatment options to improve life expectancy and quality of patients. Genetic engineering in adoptively transferred T cells to express antigen-specific chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) has proved highly powerful and efficacious in inducing sustained responses in patients with refractory malignancies, as exemplified by the success of CD19-targeting CAR-T treatment in patients with relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Recent strategies, including manipulating intracellular activating domains and transducing viral vectors, have resulted in better designed and optimized CAR-T cells. This is further facilitated by the rapid identification of an accumulating number of potential leukemic antigens that may serve as therapeutic targets for CAR-T cells. This review will provide a comprehensive background and scrutinize recent important breakthrough studies on anti-leukemia CAR-T cells, with focus on recently identified antigens for CAR-T therapy design and approaches to overcome critical challenges.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology, and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Tex.
authors.forename: Zhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Hematology, Key Laboratory of Laboratory Medical Diagnostics Designated by the Ministry of Education, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China. Electronic address: fengwlcqmu@sina.com.
authors.forename: Wen-Li
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Feng
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000628:therapy*; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000378:metabolism*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell