Application of artificial T cell receptor technology to cancer immunotherapy

Artificial T cell receptors provide a promising genetic approach to re-direct T lymphocyte specificity to tumour antigens. These molecules couple the MHC-independent recognition of a native antigen to the activation of T cell effector functions such as cytotoxicity. Recent developments in receptor design mean that T cells can also undergo extensive proliferation upon engagement with tumour cells bearing cognate antigen. Since these receptors can, in principle, be targeted to any cell surface-associated antigen, this technology may impact significantly upon adoptive cellular therapy of cance