CAR‐T cell therapy in melanoma: A future success story?

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)‐T cells are one of the impressive recent success stories of anti‐cancer immunotherapy. Especially in haematological malignancies, this treatment strategy has shown promising results leading to the recent approval of two CAR‐T cell constructs targeting CD19 in the United States and the European Union. After the huge success in haematological cancers, the next step will be the evaluation of its efficacy in different solid tumors, which is currently investigated in preclinical as well as clinical settings. A commonly examined tumor model in the context of immunotherapy is melanoma, since it is known for its immunogenic features. However, the first results of CAR‐T cell therapy in solid tumors did not reveal the same impressive outcomes that were observed in haematological malignancies, as engineered cells need to cope with several challenges. Obstacles include the lack of migration of CAR‐T cells from blood vessels to the tumor site as well as the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment within solid tumors. Another hurdle is posed by the identification of an ideal target antigen to avoid on‐target/off‐tumor toxicities. Regarding immune escape mechanisms, which can be developed by tumor cells to bypass immune recognition, the observation of antigen loss should also be considered. This article gives an overview of the challenges displayed in CAR‐T cell therapy for the use in solid tumors and discusses different new strategies and approaches that deal with these problems in order to improve CAR‐T cell therapy, particularly for its use in melanoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Experimental Dermatology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)