Interaction Between Immune and Cancer Cells and Promising CAR T-cell Therapy

CD8⁺cytotoxic T cells, CD4⁺ helper T cells, and regulatory T cells interact differently with cancer. CD8⁺ cytotoxic T cells recognize the antigens presented by cancer cells and kill cancer cells in various ways. CD4⁺ helper T cells recruit other immune cells and promote them to destroy cancer cells. On the other hand, regulatory T cells suppress T cell proliferation and the immune response of both CD8⁺ cytotoxic T cells and CD4⁺ helper T cells. This suppressive mechanism often leads to the progression of cancer. These T cell-cancer cell interactions can often render conventional cancer treatments ineffective, leaving a need for new and improved therapies. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has been an emerging immunotherapy especially against B cell cancers. While CAR T-cell therapy has shown some successful cases, there are still limitations in CAR T-cell therapy that need to be overcome.