Improving the efficacy of CAR T cell therapies for solid tumours

CAR T cell therapy has shown great promise in a variety of blood cancers; however, is still yet to prove effective in solid tumours. Solid tumours are often characterised by immunosuppressive microenvironment, which decreases the efficacy of immunotherapies. This project aims to overcome this issue by pre-treating solid tumours with a drug, which can prime the immunosuppressive microenvironment and increase the efficacy of CAR T cell treatments. The methods include production of CAR T cells targeting antigens commonly expressed on solid tumours, and investigating their effect in combination with different established chemotherapeutic agents.