TCR Gene Therapy: Challenges, Opportunities and Future Directions

Dear Colleagues,

In the past years, adoptive immunotherapy with gene-engineered T-cells has provided new treatment options for cancer patients. The most successful strategies have involved the engineering of T cells expressing chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) directed against differentiation antigens expressed in hematological malignancies. To date, clinical trials with TCR gene engineered T cells have not yet shown the impressive benefits seen with CAR constructs targeting CD19-positive blood cancers. In this Special Issue, we will discuss the opportunity to use the TCR technology to target cancer antigens, including mutated proteins, that cannot be reached by CAR technology. We will explore how TCR modifications and T-cell editing can improve the functional profile of engineered T cells, and review our current understanding of the TCR signaling mechanisms that enable T cell activation at exceedingly low concentrations of peptide antigens. This Issue provides detailed insight into the TCR biology and how it may enable the development of highly specific immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer.

Prof. Hans Stauss
Assoc. Prof. Maxine Tran
Guest Editors

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