Synergistic Potential of Traditional Chinese Medicine and CART Cell Therapy: Immunoenhancement and Persistence Regulation Strategies
Abstract
CAR-T cell therapy demonstrates tremendous potential for tumor treatment, yet faces challenges in solid tumor therapy due to immune suppression, T-cell exhaustion, and cytokine release syndrome (CRS) induced by the tumor microenvironment (TME). Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) holds substantial potential to enhance CAR-T efficacy and mitigate adverse reactions due to its multi-targeted advantages. TCM active ingredients and formulations can synergistically amplify CAR-T anti-tumor effects while reducing adverse events through multiple mechanisms, including reversing T-cell exhaustion, prolonging CAR-T cell persistence, improving TME hypoxia and fibrosis, modulating gut microbiota, and suppressing CRS. This benefits patient treatment and recovery. Combining TCM with CAR-T therapy can increase objective response rates, prolong cell persistence, and reduce CRS incidence. Future efforts will focus on exploring the precise mechanisms and standardized protocols for TCM-enhanced CAR-T treatment through high-quality clinical trials and multi-omics technologies, driving its clinical translation and application.
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