Enhanced Cancer Immunotherapy by Chimeric Antigen Receptor–Modified T Cells Engineered to Secrete Checkpoint Inhibitors

Purpose: Despite favorable responses of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered T-cell therapy in patients with hematologic malignancies, the outcome has been far from satisfactory in the treatment of solid tumors, partially owing to the development of an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. To overcome this limitation, we engineered CAR T cells secreting checkpoint inhibitors (CPI) targeting PD-1 (CAR.αPD1-T) and evaluated their...