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Review
. 2024 Aug;26(8):842-857.
doi: 10.1016/j.jcyt.2024.03.484. Epub 2024 Mar 30.

Synthetic biology approaches for enhancing safety and specificity of CAR-T cell therapies for solid cancers

Grace C Russell  1 , Yassin Hamzaoui  1 , Daniel Rho  1 , Gaurav Sutrave  2 , Joseph S Choi  1 , Dara S Missan  3 , Gabrielle A Reckard  3 , Michael P Gustafson  4 , Gloria B Kim  5
Affiliations
Review

Synthetic biology approaches for enhancing safety and specificity of CAR-T cell therapies for solid cancers

Grace C Russell et al. Cytotherapy. 2024 Aug.

Abstract

CAR-T cell therapies have been successful in treating numerous hematologic malignancies as the T cell can be engineered to target a specific antigen associated with the disease. However, translating CAR-T cell therapies for solid cancers is proving more challenging due to the lack of truly tumor-associated antigens and the high risk of off-target toxicities. To combat this, numerous synthetic biology mechanisms are being incorporated to create safer and more specific CAR-T cells that can be spatiotemporally controlled with increased precision. Here, we seek to summarize and analyze the advancements for CAR-T cell therapies with respect to clinical implementation, from the perspective of synthetic biology and immunology. This review should serve as a resource for further investigation and growth within the field of personalized cellular therapies.

Keywords: CAR-T cell therapy; solid cancers; synthetic biology.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interests No declaration for G.B.K.

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