Immunotherapy for lung cancer: Focusing on chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy

• Published in: Current problems in cancer 2022-02, Vol.46 (1), p.100791-100791, Article 100791
• Main Authors: Xue, Tongqing, Zhao, Xiang, Zhao, Kun, Lu, Yan, Yao, Juan, Ji, Xianguo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy; Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell; Humans; Immune checkpoint inhibitor; Immunotherapy; Immunotherapy, Adoptive; Lung cancer; Lung Neoplasms - drug therapy; Monoclonal antibody; Receptors, Chimeric Antigen - metabolism; Receptors, Chimeric Antigen - therapeutic use
• ISSN: 0147-0272; 1535-6345
• DOI: 10.1016/j.currproblcancer.2021.100791

Besides traditional treatment strategies, including surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy for lung cancer as the leading cause of cancer incidence and death, immunotherapy has also emerged as a new treatment strategy. The goal of immunotherapy is to stimulate the immune system responses against cancer, using various approaches such as therapeutic vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and T-cell therapy. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells, one of the most popular cancer immunotherapy approaches in the last decade, are genetically engineered T-cells to redirect patients' immune responses to recognize and eliminate tumor-associated antigens (TAA)-expressing tumor cells. CAR-T cell therapy provides promising benefits in lung tumors. In this review, we summarize different immunotherapy approaches for lung cancer, the structure of CAR-T cells, currently undergoing CARs in clinical trials, and various TAAs are being investigated as potential targets in designing CAR-T cells for lung cancer.