Enabling T Cell Recruitment to Tumours as a Strategy for Improving Adoptive T Cell Therapy

Abstract

I mmunotherapy has successfully been implemented as the standard of care in a number of oncologic indications. A hallmark of cancer immunotherapy is the successful activation of T cells against cancer cells, leading to unparalleled efficacy for some tumour entities. However, current approved approaches are not specific, limiting both their activity and their safety. A more tailored way of using the therapeutic potential of T cells is adoptive T cell therapy, which encompasses ex vivo T cell manipulation and reinfusion to patients suffering from cancer. In haematologic malignancies such as acute lymphatic leukaemia of the B cell lineage, T cells modified with a chimeric antigen receptor against the B cell lineage antigen CD19 induce remissions in a high proportion of patients. In contrast, patients suffering from advanced solid tumours have shown little benefit from cell-based approaches. This is partly due to limited access of T cells to the tumour tissue, consequently restricting T cell activity. In this review, we focus on the limitations of T cell trafficking towards solid tumours. We summarise the existing knowledge on lymphocyte migration to understand how this pathway may be used to open therapeutic approaches for a broader range of indications. We also review new strategies targeting the tumour site that aid naturally occurring or gene-engineered T cells to migrate to solid tumours. Finally, we discuss how guiding T cells towards the tumour might contribute in harnessing their full cytolytic potential.