Title:Harnessing Chimeric Antigen Receptor-engineered Invariant Natural
Killer T Cells: Therapeutic Strategies for Cancer and the Tumor
Microenvironment
Volume: 25
Issue: 15
Author(s): Yiqing Wang and Yan-Ruide Li*
Affiliation:
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
Keywords:
Invariant natural killer T cell, chimeric antigen receptor, cancer immunotherapy, tumor microenvironment, genetic engineering, autologous therapy, allogeneic therapy, graft-versus-host disease, off-the-shelf cancer therapy.
Abstract: Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered T (CAR-T) cell therapy has emerged as
a revolutionary approach for cancer treatment, especially for hematologic cancers. However,
CAR-T therapy has some limitations, including cytokine release syndrome (CRS), immune cellassociated
neurologic syndrome (ICANS), and difficulty in targeting solid tumors and delivering
allogeneic cell therapy due to graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). Therefore, it is important to
explore other cell sources for CAR engineering. Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells are a
potential target, as they possess powerful antitumor ability and do not recognize mismatched
major histocompatibility complexes (MHCs) and protein antigens, thus avoiding the risk of
GvHD. CAR-engineered iNKT (CAR-iNKT) cell therapy offers a promising new approach to
cancer immunotherapy by overcoming the drawbacks of CAR-T cell therapy while retaining
potent antitumor capabilities. This review summarizes the current CAR-iNKT cell products,
their functions and phenotypes, and their potential for off-the-shelf cancer immunotherapy.