The groundbreaking approvals of two CAR-T therapies in 2017 was the climax of more than sixty years of devoted research. In the 1950s, the discovery of bone marrow transplantation laid the foundation for developing CAR-T therapy, as it was the first time that living cells were infused into blood cancer patients for the control of cancer.

As early as 1900s, researchers were becoming aware that T cells could easily search, recognize and kill cancer cells. To do this, the cells need a “guide” to direct them to the tumors, and thus, antibodies emerged as a valuable scientific and medical tool. [Read more…]

What are the types of CAR-T cells and how have they changed in recent years? CAR-T cells are immune cells that are artificially engineered to express a particular chimeric antigen receptor (CAR), which have shown great potential in killing cancer cells. Chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) are artificially produced recombinant receptors having both antigen-binding and T-cell activating potentials.

CARs are composed of an extracellular recognition domain sourced from monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and an intracellular signaling domain including CD3- and costimulatory domains for triggering endogenous signaling pathways of T-cells. [Read more…]