AUTHOR=Schepisi Giuseppe , Conteduca Vincenza , Casadei Chiara , Gurioli Giorgia , Rossi Lorena , Gallà Valentina , Cursano Maria Concetta , Brighi Nicole , Lolli Cristian , Menna Cecilia , Farolfi Alberto , Burgio Salvatore Luca , Altavilla Amelia , Martinelli Giovanni , De Giorgi Ugo TITLE=Potential Application of Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR)-T Cell Therapy in Renal Cell Tumors JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology VOLUME=10 YEAR=2020 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2020.565857 DOI=10.3389/fonc.2020.565857 ISSN=2234-943X ABSTRACT=

Currently, renal cell carcinoma is characterized by encouraging benefits from immunotherapy that have led to significant results in treatment outcome. The approval of nivolumab primarily as second-line monotherapy and, more recently, the approval of new combination therapies as first-line treatment have confirmed the importance of immunotherapy in this type of tumor. In this context, the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T represents a further step forward in the field of immunotherapy. Initially tested on hematological malignancies, this new therapeutic approach is also becoming a topic of great interest for solid tumors. Although the treatment has several advantages over previous T-cell receptor-dependent immunotherapy, it is facing some obstacles in solid tumors such as a hostile tumor microenvironment and on-tumor/off-tumor toxicities. Several strategies are under investigation to overcome these problems, but the approval of CAR-T cell therapy is still some way off. In renal cancer, the significant advantages obtained from immune checkpoint inhibitors represent a good starting point, but the potential nephrological toxicity of CAR-T cell therapy represents an important risk. In this review, we provide the rationale and preliminary results of CAR-T cell therapy in renal cell malignancies.