Fig. 1.

Pattern diagram of gene-edited CAR-T cells. CAR-T cells express CAR molecules against tumor-associated antigens (TAAs), which mediate specific localization and elimination of tumor cells by interacting with the TAA expressing on tumor cell surface. HCC cells are able to express ligands of immune checkpoints. The interaction of immune checkpoints and ligands leads to T cell exhaustion and apoptosis, which induces dysfunction and apoptosis of CAR-T cells as well. The immune checkpoint molecules on gene-edited CAR-T cells can be knocked out with CRISPR/cas9 system, which enables the gene-edited CAR-T cells to specifically recognize HCC cells, conduct anti-tumor responses, and avoid CAR-T cell exhaustion due to immune checkpoint pathways