Open AccessMesothelin-targeted CAR-T cells for adoptive cell therapy of solid tumors
Author(s) -
Guizhen Zhang,
Tian-Fang Li,
SunYoung Han
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
archives of medical science/archives of medical science (online)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 1896-9151
pISSN - 1734-1922
DOI - 10.5114/aoms.2019.84888
Subject(s) - mesothelin , medicine , immunotherapy , cancer research , homing (biology) , solid tumor , targeted therapy , chimeric antigen receptor , tumor microenvironment , economic shortage , immunology , cancer , antigen , immune system , tumor cells , biology , ecology , linguistics , philosophy , government (linguistics)
Significant progresses have been made in adoptive cell therapy with CAR-T cells for cancers, especially for hematological malignancies. However, the treatment of solid tumors still poses a tremendous challenge and remains an unmet medical need. Several factors are held responsible for the inadequate responses: tumor heterogeneity, inefficient homing of T cells to tumor tissues, immunosuppressive microenvironment and the shortage of specific antigens shortage. Mesothelin is a cell-surface glycoprotein highly expressed in many types of solid tumors. As such, it has attracted much attention as a molecular target in cancer immunotherapy. Here, we delineate the barriers imposed by solid tumors on CARs, outline the rationale of mesothelin as a target for immunotherapy, summarize the preclinical and clinical results of mesothelin-targeted therapies, and extrapolate the expected results of CAR-T cells directed against mesothelin for solid tumors.