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T-cell-associated cellular immunotherapy for lung cancer

  • Review – Clinical Oncology
  • Published:
Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of the present study was to discuss recent findings on the role of T cells in lung cancer to provide information on their potential application, especially in cellular immunotherapy.

Methods

Data on the different types of T cells that are currently used for the treatment of lung cancer were obtained by searching the PUBMED database.

Results

Cytotoxic T lymphocytes, natural killer T cells, γδ T cells, lymphokine-activated killer cells, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, cytokine-induced killer cells and gene-modified T cells were analyzed to determine the benefits and drawbacks of their application in the treatment of lung cancer. Advances in the study of their antitumor mechanisms and directions for future research were discussed.

Conclusions

T cells are critical for tumorigenesis and therefore important targets for the treatment of lung cancer. T-cell-associated cellular immunotherapy opens up a window of opportunity for the development of complementary methods to traditional lung cancer treatments, which warrants further investigation to improve the clinical outcomes of lung cancer patients.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81301946), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation funded project (2013M540467) and Xuzhou Medical College (2012KJZ23).

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We declare that we have no conflict of interest.

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Correspondence to Junnian Zheng.

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Ke Li and Qing Zhang have contributed equally to this paper.

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Li, K., Zhang, Q., Zhang, Y. et al. T-cell-associated cellular immunotherapy for lung cancer. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 141, 1249–1258 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-014-1867-0

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