Figure 1.

The tumor microenvironment directs the cellular fate of chimeric antigen receptor modified T cells. The efficacy of autologous chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered T cells is dependent on their capacity to (1) traffick to tumor tissue,(2) mediate effector activity against tumor cells which express the target antigen on their cell surface, and (3) resist immunosuppressive signals within the tumor microenvironment which can induce a state of T cell hyporesponsiveness.