Chinese scholars have made progress in solid tumor CAR-T cell therapy


  

  Figure "Collagenase nano gel backpack" CAR-T cell preparation and anti-tumor mechanism

  With the support of National Natural Science Foundation of China projects (approval numbers: 22272091, U24A20732, 82061148009), Professor Luan Yuxia's team from the School of Pharmacy at Shandong University has made progress in the research of CAR-T cell therapy for solid tumors. Related achievements are entitled "A collagenase nano gel backpack improves CAR-T cell thermal outcomes in pancreatic cancer", which was published online in Nature Nanotechnology on May 19, 2025 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41565-025-01924-1 .

  CAR-T cell therapy (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell Therapy) is a revolutionary tumor immunotherapy approach that has shown significant efficacy in hematological malignancies such as leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. However, its application in solid tumors (such as pancreatic cancer, lung cancer, etc.) still faces major challenges. The main obstacles include tumor microenvironment barrier, insufficient T cell infiltration and poor positioning, which lead to limited therapeutic effect.

  In view of the above problems, the collagenase nano gel backpack delivery system developed by the research team of Shandong University has significantly improved the therapeutic effect of CAR-T cells in pancreatic cancer models by enhancing their tumor penetration ability. The research shows that this technology degrades the tumor matrix barrier by releasing collagenase through nano gel, so that CAR-T cells can enter the core area of tumor more efficiently, thus enhancing their killing ability. The tumor infiltration rate of CAR-T cells using this technology is about 5 times higher than that of free CAR-T cells, significantly inhibiting tumor growth and prolonging the survival of tumor bearing mice.