Background

The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that the number of new cancer cases globally will rise by 70% in the coming two decades. Although cancer therapies remain to be one of the most active research areas, there is still a significant unmet need in this domain.

Conventional treatments, such as chemotherapy, surgery and radiation therapy, have demonstrated limited efficacy, especially in late-stage cancers. Furthermore, chemotherapy and radiation therapy are also associated with multiple side effects, mainly due to their non-specific, off-target activities. Amidst the current initiatives to develop more targeted anti-cancer therapies, immunotherapy has recently emerged as a highly potent option. Immunotherapy is based on the principle of harnessing the inherent potential of the immune system to selectively target and kill malignant cells. Numerous academic institutions across the globe have made significant collaborative contributions within this field within both adult and pediatric cancer. 

The first FDA-approved gene-edited T cell products for lymphoma and leukemia came out on the market only in 2017 and the needs for new therapies targeting resistant cases and other diseases, in particular solid tumors, remains high.