How to block trogocytosis and improve CAR T-cell therapy

Blocking a process called trogocytosis could enhance the ability of CAR T-cell therapies to treat cancer, according to research led by University of Pennsylvania scientists. In this Q&A, Dr Serge Fuchs, Elizabeth and William Whitney Clark Professor of Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, US, discusses the study.

Despite the immune system’s capability to respond to internal threats such as cancer, tumours can often overcome its defences and evade detection.

In the new study published in Cell Metabolism,¹ researchers uncovered a detailed mechanism that tumours utilise to evade both the immune system and cancer therapies that leverage its power, such as genetically engineered chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells.