Enhancing the persistence of therapeutic T cells

Therapeutic T cells show enormous promise for the treatment of cancer and other diseases, and an intriguing attribute of T cells for cellular therapy is their ability to have persist and perform cytotoxic function for years. With the advances in T-cell therapies such as CAR T-cell therapy for cancer, long-persisting therapeutic T cells have now been studied in clinical settings and revealed unexpected T-cell poulations. Based on these studies, an emerging framework of long-lived cytotoxic T cells may guide the rational design of new therapies optimized for long-lasting efficacy. The ideal duration of therapeutic T-cell persistence varies by clinical context, and the design of T-cell therapies should follow the therapeutic objective. This chapter highlights the central objective of enhancing the persistence of therapeutic T cells in various clinical contexts, and discusses the ways in which our growing knowledge of long-persisting T cells can guide the next generation of cell therapies.