Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 18, 2025
09:12
Author Spotlight: Advancements in Hypoxia-Sensitive CAR-T Therapy for Enhanced Cancer Immunotherapy
Published on: June 14, 2024
1.0K
[CAR T cells in solid tumors: resistance mechanisms]
Markus Barden1, Astrid Holzinger1, Hinrich Abken2
1Abt. Gen-Immuntherapie, Leibniz Institut für Immuntherapie (LIT), Franz-Josef-Strauß-Allee 11, 93053, Regensburg, Deutschland.
Innere Medizin (Heidelberg, Germany)
|June 25, 2025
Summary
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy shows promise for solid tumors. New strategies, like CAR T-cells as "biopharmaceutical factories," are emerging to overcome treatment challenges and improve efficacy.
Area of Science:
- Immunotherapy
- Oncology
- Cellular Therapy
Context:
- Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has revolutionized hematological cancer treatment.
- Significant challenges hinder CAR T-cell efficacy in solid tumors, despite its success in blood cancers.
Purpose:
- To outline the primary mechanisms impeding CAR T-cell activity in solid tumors.
- To present strategies aimed at overcoming these obstacles for improved therapeutic outcomes.
Summary:
- Solid tumors suppress CAR T-cell function through impaired infiltration, active immune suppression, and unfavorable metabolic environments.
- Strategies include tumor pretreatment, enhancing T-cell resilience, and utilizing CAR T-cells to release cytokines (TRUCKs) for local immune activation.
Impact:
- CAR T-cell therapy holds substantial potential for treating solid tumors.
- Emerging TRUCK strategies, activating NK cells and macrophages within tumors, are entering clinical trials, offering new therapeutic avenues.
Related Concept Videos
01:27Tumor Immunotherapy
675
Immunotherapy is a treatment that boosts or manipulates the immune system to fight diseases, including cancer. For instance, by stimulating an immune response through vaccinations against viruses that cause cancers, like hepatitis B virus and human papillomavirus, these diseases can be prevented. Nonetheless, some cancer cells can avoid the immune system due to their rapid mutation and division. The immune response to many cancers involves three phases: elimination, equilibrium, and escape.
675
02:56Treatment Resistant Cancers
3.4K
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. A cancer cell is genetically unstable and hence can mutate faster. They can also modify their microenvironment and escape immune surveillance. The difficulties in treating cancer are further compounded by the emergence of rapid resistance to anticancer drugs. The most common ways to attain resistance in cancer cells include alteration in drug transport and metabolism, modification of drug target, elevated DNA damage response, or...
3.4K
01:27Cytotoxic T Cells-mediated Immune Response
2.5K
Cytotoxic T cells are a vital component of the immune system. They have the remarkable ability to identify and target antigens on infected or abnormal cells. These antigens often originate from intracellular pathogens such as viruses or abnormal proteins cancer cells produce.
Immunological surveillance is the ability of immune cells to monitor and eliminate infected cells with intracellular pathogens, neoplastically transformed cells, and cells with non-self antigens. Cytotoxic T cells and NK...
Immunological surveillance is the ability of immune cells to monitor and eliminate infected cells with intracellular pathogens, neoplastically transformed cells, and cells with non-self antigens. Cytotoxic T cells and NK...
2.5K
02:40Cancer Stem Cells and Tumor Maintenance
5.1K
Early diagnosis and treatment can often cure cancer. However, even with treatment, residual cells called cancer stem cells (CSC) might remain, often causing tumor recurrence. These cancer stem cells possess the potential for self-renewal and multi-lineage differentiation and are often responsible for the therapeutic resistance displayed in most cancers.
Cancer stem cells are thought to originate from tissue-specific normal stem cells or progenitor cells. The normal stem cells usually reside in...
Cancer stem cells are thought to originate from tissue-specific normal stem cells or progenitor cells. The normal stem cells usually reside in...
5.1K
01:22T Cell Activation and Clonal Selection
5.8K
T cells are integral to our adaptive immune system, recognizing and effectively responding to foreign antigens. T cell activation and clonal selection are pivotal in orchestrating this immune response. This article elucidates these mechanisms, detailing the roles of cluster of differentiation (CD) markers, major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules, costimulatory signals, and the process of clonal selection.
Naive T cells that have not yet encountered an antigen express two primary CD...
Naive T cells that have not yet encountered an antigen express two primary CD...
5.8K
02:17The Tumor Microenvironment
6.8K
Every normal cell or tissue is embedded in a complex local environment called stroma, consisting of different cell types, a basal membrane, and blood vessels. As normal cells mutate and develop into cancer cells, their local environment also changes to allow cancer progression. The tumor microenvironment (TME) consists of a complex cellular matrix of stromal cells and the developing tumor. The cross-talk between cancer cells and surrounding stromal cells is critical to disrupt normal tissue...
6.8K