Interleukin-armed chimeric antigen receptor-modified T cells for cancer immunotherapy

Chimeric antigen receptor-modified T cells (CAR-T) are endowed with cytotoxic specificity to tumor cells. Although CAR-T-based cancer immunotherapy presents curable therapeutic potential for hematological malignancies, achieving substantial efficacy for solid tumors remain challenging. Researchers have exploited many strategies to enhance the anti-tumor efficacy of CAR-T cells for solid tumors, among which cytokine-armed CAR-T cells improve the proliferation, survival, homing and other properties of CAR-T cells. Interleukins (ILs), pivotal cytokines that affect the function of immune cells, were co-expressed in CAR-T cells or combinatorially administered to enhance the therapeutic potential in clinical trials. In this review, we summarize the strategies exploited by ILs to improve the anti-cancer ability of CAR-T cells and the different impacts of different ILs on CAR-T cells.