Pierzynowska Karolina, Gaffke Lidia, Zaucha Jan M, Węgrzyn Grzegorz
Department of Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 59, 80-308 Gdansk, Poland.
Department of Hematology and Transplantology, Medical University of Gdansk, Smoluchowskiego 17, 80-214 Gdansk, Poland.
Biomedicines. 2023 Apr 6;11(4):1107. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines11041107.
Chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cells are specifically modified T cells which bear recombinant receptors, present at the cell surface and devoted to detect selected antigens of cancer cells, and due to the presence of transmembrane and activation domains, able to eliminate the latter ones. The use of CAR-T cells in anti-cancer therapies is a relatively novel approach, providing a powerful tool in the fight against cancer and bringing new hope for patients. However, despite huge possibilities and promising results of preclinical studies and clinical efficacy, there are various drawbacks to this therapy, including toxicity, possible relapses, restrictions to specific kinds of cancers, and others. Studies desiring to overcome these problems include various modern and advanced methods. One of them is transcriptomics, a set of techniques that analyze the abundance of all RNA transcripts present in the cell at certain moment and under certain conditions. The use of this method gives a global picture of the efficiency of expression of all genes, thus revealing the physiological state and regulatory processes occurring in the investigated cells. In this review, we summarize and discuss the use of transcriptomics in studies on and applications of CAR-T cells, especially in approaches focused on improved efficacy, reduced toxicity, new target cancers (like solid tumors), monitoring the treatment efficacy, developing novel analytical methods, and others.
嵌合抗原受体T（CAR-T）细胞是经过特殊改造的T细胞，其表面带有重组受体，用于检测癌细胞的特定抗原，并且由于存在跨膜和激活结构域，能够清除癌细胞。在抗癌治疗中使用CAR-T细胞是一种相对新颖的方法，为对抗癌症提供了强大工具，给患者带来了新希望。然而，尽管临床前研究有巨大潜力和令人鼓舞的结果以及临床疗效，但这种疗法存在各种缺点，包括毒性、可能的复发、对特定类型癌症的限制等。旨在克服这些问题的研究包括各种现代先进方法。其中之一是转录组学，这是一组在特定时刻和特定条件下分析细胞中所有RNA转录本丰度的技术。使用这种方法可以全面了解所有基因的表达效率，从而揭示被研究细胞中发生的生理状态和调节过程。在这篇综述中，我们总结并讨论转录组学在CAR-T细胞研究和应用中的使用情况，特别是在旨在提高疗效、降低毒性、针对新的靶标癌症（如实体瘤）、监测治疗效果、开发新型分析方法等方面的应用。
