γδ T 细胞用于肿瘤免疫治疗：非常规选手登上舞台

The success of cancer immunotherapy depends on the mobilization of leukocytes with the capacity to eliminate tumor cells. T cells represent a lymphocyte lineage with strong cytotoxic potential and abundant production of antitumor cytokines.

Importantly, they are not restricted to MHC-mediated presentation of neoantigens and thus are highly suited to tackle major challenges in current immunotherapies. In this article, we review the main approaches to engage and expand T cells endogenously (in patients) or exogenously (for adoptive cell therapy) against cancer.

We discuss the dichotomy between activation and exhaustion of T cells and how they may benefit from immune checkpoint blockade.

Finally, we describe the biological properties of the two main subsets of human T cells, V 1 and V 2 T cells, and how they are boosted, through genetic engineering, toward maximization of their performance as next-generation cancer immunotherapies.