The clinical use of cellular immunotherapies is gaining momentum and the number of approved indications is steadily increasing. One class of cellular therapies—chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T cells—has achieved impressive results in distinct blood cancer indications. These existing cellular therapies treating blood cancers face significant relapse rates, and their application beyond hematology has been underwhelming, especially in solid oncology. Major reasons for resistance source largely in the tumor microenvironment (TME). The TME in fact functionally suppresses, restricts, and excludes adoptive immune cells, which limits the efficacy of cellular immunotherapies from the onset. Many promising efforts are ongoing to adapt cellular immunotherapies to address these obstacles, with the aim of reshaping the tumor microenvironment to ameliorate function and to achieve superior efficacy against both hematological and solid malignancies.
Institute(s)Unit for Clinical Pharmacology (KKG-EKLiP)
Grants Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Program Training Network for Optimizing Adoptive T Cell Therapy of Cancer - H2020 Program of the European Union Hector Foundation International Doctoral Program i-Target: Immunotargeting of Cancer - Elite Network of Bavaria Melanoma Research Alliance Grants Else Kroner-Fresenius-Stiftung German Cancer Aid Ernst-Jung-Stiftung LMU Munich's Institutional Strategy LMUexcellent Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung European Research Council German Research Foundation (DFG) Fritz-Bender Foundation Wilhelm-Sander-Stiftung Deutsche Jose-Carreras Leukamie Stiftung Projekt DEAL