Chimeric Co-Stimulation

Abstract

It is essential that in order to prevent relapse of hematological cancers, improvements be made in chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. Katsarou et al. in an attempt to tackle conventional relapse mediators, designed chimeric costimulatory receptors, that aid CAR T-cell activation via intracellular signaling by attaching to a second tumor-associated antigen. The investigators noticed enhanced killing of tumor cells in vitro and in vivo, even against cancer cells with exceptionally low antigen density, and this was associated with improved CAR T cell persistence. Sci Transl Med. 2021 Dec 8;13(623): eabh1962.