Cellular Therapies in Onco-Hematology: 60 Years of Progress Volume 3 - Issue 4

Oscar Borsani*

• Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Pavia, Italy

Received:February 24, 2020   Published: March 05, 2020

Corresponding author: Oscar Borsani, Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy

DOI: 10.32474/OAJOM.2020.03.000167

 

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Abstract

In the last years, CAR-T cell therapy gained the attention of the entire scientific community thanks to their high rate of efficacy in some hematological and non-hematological malignancies. However, the scientific bases of this innovative therapy should be traced back to the mid-90s, when animal models gave the first evidences concerning the protective role of T cell immunity against cancer. In 1956, the potential anti-tumor efficacy of bone marrow transplantation was suggested by results from murine models of leukemia treated with supralethal irradiation and subsequent marrow grafting [1]. However, the first clinical evidence about the anti-cancer activity of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation was given by Thomas E.D. who, in 1959, described the first successful marrow grafting in two leukemic patients who received supralethal irradiation and subsequent bone marrow transplantation by identical twin donors [2]. However, despite first descriptions of the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) by [3,4], it took more than 10 years to successfully perform allogenic bone marrow transplantation from non-twins’ donors. In 1961, in a two-page preliminary communication, the immunologist Jacques Miller demonstrated that early thymectomised mice developed a severe lymphocyte depletion and immune disfunction in adult age, thereby providing the first evidences about the role of thymus gland in normal T cell development and immune system function [5]. In 1986, Steven Rosenberg studied the adoptive transfer of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) in mice bearing hepatic and pulmonary metastasis of colon adenocarcinoma, demonstrating a strong synergistic effect when associated with the administration of cytotoxic chemotherapy [6]. In the following years, a bulk of clinical evidences further confirmed that immune cells can fight cancer

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