About this Research Topic
Cell-based cancer therapies first emerged in the 1950s with the pioneering work of Prof. E. Donnall Thomas, who established bone marrow transplantation as a novel and groundbreaking therapeutic strategy for hematologic malignancies. This therapy, which remains a standard-of-care for leukemia and lymphoma today, not only provided a cure for patients who previously had little hope of survival but also revolutionized oncology by introducing a transformative paradigm: using the body's own immune cells to combat cancer.
Building on this breakthrough, significant milestones have been achieved over the following decades with the development of therapies that harness the immune system to treat malignancies. Notable examples include the seminal work of Prof. Steven Rosenberg and colleagues on the adoptive transfer of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) for the treatment of metastatic melanoma, or the pioneering studies of Prof. Carl June, which led to the development of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells, transforming the treatment of certain leukemias and lymphomas. More recently, novel approaches such as CAR-modified natural killer cells (CAR-NK) and macrophages (CAR-M) have added up to the arsenal of available cell-based cancer immunotherapies. The advantages offered by these methods over CAR-T cells hold promise for more cost-efficient and safer therapies.
In this Research Topic, we will review the latest advances in the development and application of cell-based immunotherapies for cancer treatment. This includes a comprehensive overview of their clinical implications and current applications, as well as ongoing studies aimed at opening new therapeutic avenues, particularly for relapse/refractory cases and cancers with poor prognoses. Additionally, we will examine the current challenges in the design, development and application of new cellular immunotherapies, with a special emphasis on the approaches and experimental models used for their preclinical evaluation.
This initiative is supported by the IMMUNO-model COST Action (CA21135), a scientific network dedicated to advancing research and innovation in preclinical immuno-oncology models, with the ultimate goal of enhancing cancer treatment outcomes and improving patients’ quality of life.
Building on this breakthrough, significant milestones have been achieved over the following decades with the development of therapies that harness the immune system to treat malignancies. Notable examples include the seminal work of Prof. Steven Rosenberg and colleagues on the adoptive transfer of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) for the treatment of metastatic melanoma, or the pioneering studies of Prof. Carl June, which led to the development of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells, transforming the treatment of certain leukemias and lymphomas. More recently, novel approaches such as CAR-modified natural killer cells (CAR-NK) and macrophages (CAR-M) have added up to the arsenal of available cell-based cancer immunotherapies. The advantages offered by these methods over CAR-T cells hold promise for more cost-efficient and safer therapies.
In this Research Topic, we will review the latest advances in the development and application of cell-based immunotherapies for cancer treatment. This includes a comprehensive overview of their clinical implications and current applications, as well as ongoing studies aimed at opening new therapeutic avenues, particularly for relapse/refractory cases and cancers with poor prognoses. Additionally, we will examine the current challenges in the design, development and application of new cellular immunotherapies, with a special emphasis on the approaches and experimental models used for their preclinical evaluation.
This initiative is supported by the IMMUNO-model COST Action (CA21135), a scientific network dedicated to advancing research and innovation in preclinical immuno-oncology models, with the ultimate goal of enhancing cancer treatment outcomes and improving patients’ quality of life.
Keywords: cellular immunotherapy, advanced therapies, chimeric antigen receptor, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, therapeutic targets, experimental models
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