Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy has had great success in treating blood cancers. But when it comes to solid tumors, the therapy often misses the mark. In solid tumors such as sarcomas, the tumor microenvironment suppresses CAR T cells, making them less effective.
Using synthetic biology, Gabriel Kwong, a biomedical engineer at Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, has developed a technology to control T cell therapies with heat and make cancer cells more sensitive to chemotherapy. The new technology may turn the tables for CAR T therapy success in solid tumors.
“The idea of spatially controlling the function of cell therapies is a really important and emerging idea,” said Mikhail Shapiro, a chemical engineer at the California Institute of Technology, who was not involved in the research. “This work is a very important step in demonstrating that it works in vivo in a realistic cancer scenario.”
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