The journal of gene medicine
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Review
Chimeric antigen receptors for T cell immunotherapy: current understanding and future directions.
The genetic engineering of T cells through the introduction of a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) allows for generation of tumor-targeted T cells. Once expressed by T cells, CARs combine antigen-specificity with T cell activation in a single fusion molecule. Most CARs are comprised of an antigen-binding domain, an extracellular spacer/hinge region, a trans-membrane domain and an intracellular signaling domain resulting in T cell activation after antigen binding. ⋯ In conclusion, CAR-modified T cell therapy is a highly promising treatment for cancer, having already demonstrated both promising preclinical and clinical results. However, further modification and additional clinical trials will need to be conducted to ultimately optimize the anti-tumor efficacy of this approach.