Nat. Biotechnol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-020-0462-y (2020)
Macrophages that express a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) show promise for targeting solid tumors.
CAR T cells have been successful in targeting many blood cancers, but there has been limited success in treating solid cancers with them. It is thought that this is because T cells have difficulty in penetrating the tumor microenvironment. Macrophages are present in the tumor milieu, however, and could be useful to mount an initial anti-tumor response
Klichinsky et al. were able to transduce human macrophages with an adenovirus vector carrying a CAR. They show in humanized mouse models that infusion with this presumably resulted in a proinflammatory tumor microenvironment that activated T cells. The next stage will be a phase 1 trial to test safety in humans.
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Stower, H. CARs for macrophages. Nat Med 26, 649 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0905-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0905-5
