CAR-T cell therapy in ovarian cancer: from the bench to the bedside

// Xinxin Zhu 1, 2 , Han Cai 1 , Ling Zhao 1 , Li Ning 1 and Jinghe Lang 1 1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China 2 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Institute for Wound Research, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA Correspondence to: Jinghe Lang, email: langjh@hotmail.com , doctorlangjh@163.com Keywords: chimeric antigen receptor, T lymphocyte , immunotherapy, ovarian neoplasms, toxicity Received: April 26, 2017 Accepted: July 25, 2017 Published: August 04, 2017 ABSTRACT Ovarian cancer (OC) is the most lethal gynecological malignancy and is responsible for most gynecological cancer deaths. Apart from conventional surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, chimeric antigen receptor-modified T (CAR-T) cells as a representative of adoptive cellular immunotherapy have received considerable attention in the research field of cancer treatment. CARs combine antigen specificity and T-cell-activating properties in a single fusion molecule. Several preclinical experiments and clinical trials have confirmed that adoptive cell immunotherapy using typical CAR-engineered T cells for OC is a promising treatment approach with striking clinical efficacy; moreover, the emerging CAR-Ts targeting various antigens also exert great potential. However, such therapies have side effects and toxicities, such as cytokine-associated and “on-target, off-tumor” toxicities. In this review, we systematically detail and highlight the present knowledge of CAR-Ts including the constructions, vectors, clinical applications, development challenges, and solutions of CAR-T-cell therapy for OC. We hope to provide new insight into OC treatment for the future.