T cells are used in different therapeutic approaches:
Cell-based adoptive T-cell therapy: Adoptive T-cell therapy focuses on increasing tumor-specific T cells: Various sources and types of T cells have been used for adoptive therapy including tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) expanded ex vivo or peripheral blood T cells genetically engineered ex vivo to either express a cancer-specific T-cell receptor (TCR) or a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR; CAR-T cells) against a cancer epitope.
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Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocyte (TIL) therapy: makes use of T cells found within tumors, which may naturally have T cell receptors that recognize targets on cancer cells.
TCR-engineered T-cell therapy: makes use of genetic engineering of a patient’s T cells to add alternative T-cell receptors that recognize targets on cancer cells.
CAR-T cell therapy: makes use of genetic engineering to endow a patient’s T cells with artificial receptors known as “CARs” which can recognize targets on cancer cells that are invisible to T cell receptors..
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In recent years, cell and gene therapy technologies have been gaining traction across multiple therapeutic areas. Prominent examples include the development of CAR-T cell therapy , i.e., the use of CARs to redirect T lymphocytes towards cancer cells. Although relatively new, CAR-T therapy is showing considerable success for the treatment of hematopoietic malignancies such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma.