Therapies with genetically modified T cells that express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) specific for CD19 or B cell maturation antigen (BCMA) are approved to treat certain B cell malignancies. However, translating these successes into treatments for patients with solid tumours presents various challenges, including the risk of clinically serious on-target, off-tumour toxicity (OTOT) owing to CAR T cellmediated cytotoxicity against non-malignant tissues expressing the target antigen. Indeed, severe OTOT has been observed in various CAR
Review articlewe examine the implications of OTOT on the development of CAR T cell therapies targeting solid tumours, summarize OTOT evidence in preclinical and clinical studies, and discuss advances in CAR T cell engineering that might help to overcome OTOT in the clinic.
Risks and mechanisms of OTOTOTOT stems from CAR T cell-mediated recognition and lysis of nonmalignant tissues expressing the target antigen, potentially causing severe adverse events 23,26 . Upon recognition of a target antigen, CAR T cell activation leads to the formation of an immune synapse between the CAR and the target cell 27 , triggering effector functions (Fig. 2). The release of perforin and granzymes 28 is assumed to be a principal mechanism of CAR T cell-mediated cytotoxicity. However, other mechanisms, such as upregulation of T cell-surface molecules to induce target apoptosis (such as FAS ligand) 29 or secretion of cytokines, including IFNγ and/or TNF, may also contribute to tissue destruction [29][30][31] (Fig. 2).To generate CAR T cells that are both safe and effective in patients with solid tumours, target antigen selection is crucial. Optimal antigen candidates, referred to as neoantigens, should be exclusively expressed on malignant cells and not on non-malignant cells. Such antigens could arise from tumour-specific non-synonymous mutations, insertions or deletions that alter the amino acid sequence of cell-surface proteins, aberrant expression of oncofetal antigens, or tumour-specific posttranslational modifications [32][33][34][35][36][37] . However, cell-surface neoantigens are rare, particularly in tumours with a low mutational burden 38 . EGFRvIII, found in 24-67% of glioblastomas, is one of the few identified examples 39,40 . Consequently, the majority of CAR T cell therapy targets for solid tumours are tumour-associated antigens (TAAs) that are also expressed on non-malignant tissues (Fig. 3).