Driving better and safer HER2-specific CARs for cancer therapy

Xianqiang Liu; Nan Zhang; Huan Shi

doi:10.18632/oncotarget.17528

Driving better and safer HER2-specific CARs for cancer therapy

Oncotarget. 2017 Apr 29;8(37):62730-62741. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.17528. eCollection 2017 Sep 22.

Authors

Xianqiang Liu¹, Nan Zhang², Huan Shi³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Jinan Central Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250013, P.R. China.
² Department of Oncology, Jinan Central Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250013, P.R. China.
³ Department of Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, Shandong, P.R. China.

Abstract

Given the clinical efficacy of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-based therapy in hematological malignancies, CAR T-cell therapy for a number of solid tumors has been actively investigated. Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is a well-established therapeutic target in breast, as well as other types of cancer. However, HER2 CAR T cells pose a risk of lethal toxicity including cytokine release syndrome from "on-target, off-tumor" recognition of HER2. In this review, we summarize the development of conventional HER2 CAR technology, the alternative selection of CAR hosts, the novel HER2 CAR designs, clinical studies and toxicity. Furthermore, we also discuss the main strategies for improving the safety of HER2 CAR-based cancer therapies.

Keywords: HER2; cancer; chimeric antigen receptor; immunotherapy; toxicity.