Advances in CAR T cell immunotherapy for paediatric brain tumours

Padmashree Rao; Liam Furst; Deborah Meyran; Chelsea Mayoh; Paul J Neeson; Rachael Terry; Dong-Anh Khuong-Quang; Theo Mantamadiotis; Paul G Ekert

doi:10.3389/fonc.2022.873722

Advances in CAR T cell immunotherapy for paediatric brain tumours

Front Oncol. 2022 Nov 23:12:873722. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.873722. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Padmashree Rao¹, Liam Furst^{2

3}, Deborah Meyran^{4

5

6

7}, Chelsea Mayoh^{1

8}, Paul J Neeson^{4

5}, Rachael Terry^{1

8}, Dong-Anh Khuong-Quang^{1

3

7}, Theo Mantamadiotis^{2

9}, Paul G Ekert^{1

3

4

5

8

10}

Affiliations

¹ Translational Tumour Biology, Children's Cancer Institute, Randwick, NSW, Australia.
² Department of Microbiology & Immunology, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, VIC, Australia.
³ Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁴ Cancer Immunology Program, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁵ Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁶ Université de Paris, Inserm, U976 Human Immunology Pathophysiology Immunotherapy (HIPI) Unit, Institut de Recherche Saint-Louis, Paris, France.
⁷ Children's Cancer Centre, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
⁸ School of Women and Children's Health, University of New South Wales, Randwick, NSW, Australia.
⁹ Department of Surgery Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH), The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
¹⁰ Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia.

Abstract

Brain tumours are the most common solid tumour in children and the leading cause of cancer related death in children. Current treatments include surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The need for aggressive treatment means many survivors are left with permanent severe disability, physical, intellectual and social. Recent progress in immunotherapy, including genetically engineered T cells with chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) for treating cancer, may provide new avenues to improved outcomes for patients with paediatric brain cancer. In this review we discuss advances in CAR T cell immunotherapy, the major CAR T cell targets that are in clinical and pre-clinical development with a focus on paediatric brain tumours, the paediatric brain tumour microenvironment and strategies used to improve CAR T cell therapy for paediatric tumours.

Keywords: CAR T cell; blood brain barrier; immunotherapy; paediatric brain tumour; tumour microenvironment.

Publication types

Review