Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy beyond cancer: current practice and future prospects

Adoptive cell therapy with chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cells has achieved remarkable efficacy in the treatment of hematological malignancies, which has inspired researchers to expand the application of CAR-T-cell therapy to other medical conditions. Here, we review the current understanding and development of CAR-T-cell therapy for infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases and allotransplantation. The limitations and challenges of CAR-T-cell therapy in the treatment of these diseases and potential solutions to overcome these shortcomings are also discussed. With the development of novel designs of CARs and preclinical/clinical investigations, CAR-T-cell therapy is expected to be a potential cure option in a wide array of disease settings in the future.