Anti-tumor efficacy of human anti-c-met CAR-T cells against papillary renal cell carcinoma in an orthotopic model.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy has shown salient efficacy in cancer immunotherapy, particularly in the treatment of B cell malignancies. However, the efficacy of CAR-T for solid tumors remains inadequate. In this study, we displayed that c-met is an appropriate therapeutic target for papillary renal cell carcinoma (PRCC) using clinical samples, developed an anti-human c-met CAR-T cells, and investigated the anti-tumor efficacy of the CAR-T cells with an orthotopic mouse model as a pre-clinical research. Administration of the anti-c-met CAR-T cells induced remarkable infiltration of the CAR-T cells into the tumor tissue and unambiguous suppression of the tumor growth. Furthermore, in combination with axitinib, the anti-tumor efficacy of the CAR-T cells was synergistically augmented. Taken together, our current study demonstrated the potential for clinical application of anti-c-met CAR-T cells in the treatment of patients with PRCC.