Adoptive cell transfer therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide. This malignancy is associated with poor prognosis and high mortality. Novel approaches for prolonging the overall survival of patients with advanced HCC are urgently needed. The antitumor activities of adoptive cell transfer therapy (ACT), such as strategies based on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and cytokine-induced killer cells, are more effective than those of traditional strategies. Currently, chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) immunotherapy has achieved numerous breakthroughs in the treatment of hematological malignancies, including relapsed or refractory lymphoblastic leukemia and refractory large B-cell lymphoma. Nevertheless, this approach only provides a modest benefit in the treatment of solid tumors. The clinical results of CAR-T immunotherapy for HCC that could be obtained at present are limited. Some published studies have demonstrated that CAR-T could inhibit tumor growth and cause severe side effects. In this review, we summarized the current application of ACT, the challenges encountered by CAR-T technology in HCC treatment, and some possible strategies for the future direction of immunotherapeutic research.

Keywords

adoptive cell transfer therapy / hepatocellular carcinoma / T cell / chimeric antigen receptor / immunotherapy

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 31571434, 81874155, and 81872482) and the National Science and Technology Major Project (No. 2015CB553701).

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Renyu Zhang, Zhao Zhang, Zekun Liu, Ding Wei, Xiaodong Wu, Huijie Bian, and Zhinan Chen declare no conflicts of interest. This manuscript is a review article and does not involve a research protocol requiring approval by the relevant institutional review board or ethics committee.

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