Paths to stemness: building the ultimate antitumour T cell

L Gattinoni, CA Klebanoff, NP Restifo - Nature Reviews Cancer, 2012 - nature.com
Nature Reviews Cancer, 2012nature.com
Stem cells are defined by the ability to self-renew and to generate differentiated progeny,
qualities that are maintained by evolutionarily conserved pathways that can lead to cancer
when deregulated. There is now evidence that these stem cell-like attributes and signalling
pathways are also shared among subsets of mature memory T lymphocytes. We discuss
how using stem cell-like T cells can overcome the limitations of current adoptive T cell
therapies, including inefficient T cell engraftment, persistence and ability to mediate …
Abstract
Stem cells are defined by the ability to self-renew and to generate differentiated progeny, qualities that are maintained by evolutionarily conserved pathways that can lead to cancer when deregulated. There is now evidence that these stem cell-like attributes and signalling pathways are also shared among subsets of mature memory T lymphocytes. We discuss how using stem cell-like T cells can overcome the limitations of current adoptive T cell therapies, including inefficient T cell engraftment, persistence and ability to mediate prolonged immune attack. Conferring stemness to antitumour T cells might unleash the full potential of cellular therapies.
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