T cell receptor-engineered T cells for leukemia immunotherapy

Yikai Zhang and
Yangqiu LiEmail author View ORCID ID profile

Cancer Cell International201919:2

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12935-018-0720-y

Received: 6 September 2018
Accepted: 24 December 2018
Published: 3 January 2019

Abstract

At present, refractory and relapse are major issues for leukemia therapy and a major cause of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant failure. Over the last decade, many studies have demonstrated that adoptive cancer antigen-specific T cell therapy is an effective option for leukemia therapy. Recently, T cell immunotherapy studies have mainly focused on chimeric antigen receptor- and T cell receptor-engineered T cells. Clinical trials involving chimeric antigen receptor-engineered T cells have been a major breakthrough and became a novel therapy for leukemia. As another potential therapy for leukemia, clinical application of TCR-engineered T cells remains in its infancy. This article presents a review of the current status of anti-leukemia immunotherapy using leukemia antigen-specific TCR-engineered T cells.