Harnessing Chimeric Antigen Receptor-engineered Invariant Natural Killer T Cells: Therapeutic Strategies for Cancer and the Tumor Microenvironment

Title:Harnessing Chimeric Antigen Receptor-engineered Invariant Natural Killer T Cells: Therapeutic Strategies for Cancer and the Tumor Microenvironment

Volume: 25 Issue: 15

Author(s): Yiqing Wang and Yan-Ruide Li*

Affiliation:

• Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA

Abstract: Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered T (CAR-T) cell therapy has emerged as a revolutionary approach for cancer treatment, especially for hematologic cancers. However, CAR-T therapy has some limitations, including cytokine release syndrome (CRS), immune cellassociated neurologic syndrome (ICANS), and difficulty in targeting solid tumors and delivering allogeneic cell therapy due to graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). Therefore, it is important to explore other cell sources for CAR engineering. Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells are a potential target, as they possess powerful antitumor ability and do not recognize mismatched major histocompatibility complexes (MHCs) and protein antigens, thus avoiding the risk of GvHD. CAR-engineered iNKT (CAR-iNKT) cell therapy offers a promising new approach to cancer immunotherapy by overcoming the drawbacks of CAR-T cell therapy while retaining potent antitumor capabilities. This review summarizes the current CAR-iNKT cell products, their functions and phenotypes, and their potential for off-the-shelf cancer immunotherapy.

Cite this article as:

Wang Yiqing and Li Yan-Ruide*, Harnessing Chimeric Antigen Receptor-engineered Invariant Natural Killer T Cells: Therapeutic Strategies for Cancer and the Tumor Microenvironment, Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology 2024; 25 (15) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/0113892010265228231116073012