Edited by: Profs. Marko Radic, Djordje Atanackovic and Tim Luetkens
In-house Editors: Drs. Linda Gummlich and Akila Sridhar
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells therapies, as a novel modality in cancer immunotherapy, provide a quantum leap in the treatment of cancer. In recognition of the new advances that the CAR approach represents in hematological malignancies, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved two separate cell-based gene therapies, one from Novartis (Kamryah) the other from Gilead (Yescarta), for treatment of B cell leukemias. These concrete steps that advance the CAR therapy into the clinic, providing the backdrop and motivation to assist the integration of the CAR-T immunotherapy into the standard treatment modalities of cancer. We envision that accelerated progress with clinical trials of CAR-T cells, the proper dosing of engineered T cells along with optimized GMP-compliant production of patient-derived T lymphocytes, combination therapies using CAR-T cells and additional chemo- and immune-therapies, and increased safety considerations with diminished side-effects will remain the focus of scientific investigations.
Acknowledging this leap in science, from the lab to the clinic, BMC Cancer and BMC Biotechnology, present the recent advances in the development, applications and safety of CAR-T immunotherapy in this collection.