CAR-T cells are used as personalised cancer therapies, however, these cells exhaust very quickly. SFB 1381 PI Wolfgang Schamel and colleagues have discovered that the zeta chain, incorporated in the currently used CAR receptors, is probably responsible for this effect and the integration of other CAR signalling chains- gamma, delta and epsilon- led to a much more efficient anti-tumour effect of the corresponding CAR-T cells in a mouse model of leukaemia. CAR-T cells featuring these alternative chains could therefore be an improved approach to combat cancer.
Please find more information in the press release of the University of Freiburg and the original publication in Nature Immunology.
Illustration: Sara Wossning Minguet and Wolfgang Schamel
