CD8 T Cells

Abstract

The harnessing and purification of CD8+ T cells as a novel therapy for neoplastic diseases is a recent innovation. With improvements in the understanding of T cell biology, the identification of specific subsets of CD8+ T cells has been shown to be superior at suppressing tumor activity both in vitro and in vivo. Recent clinical trials using both purified tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) as well as the novel chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR T cells) have shown great promise in the treatment of a variety of neoplasias including melanoma, and leukemias. Many clinical trials are now ongoing to elucidate the potential of these new therapies.