Adoptive cell therapy using chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) technology is one of the most advanced engineering platforms for cancer immunotherapy. CAR-T cells have shown remarkable efficacy in the treatment of hematological malignancies. However, their limitations in solid tumors include an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME), insufficient tumor infiltration, toxicity, and the absence of tumor-specific antigens. Although recent advances in CAR-T cell design—such as the incorporation of co-stimulatory domains and the development of armored CAR-T cells—have shown promising results in treating solid tumors, there are still challenges that need to be addressed. To overcome these limitations, other immune cells, such as natural killer (NK) cells and macrophages (M), have been developed as attractive options for efficient cancer immunotherapy of solid tumors. CAR-NK cells exhibit substantial clinical improvements with "off-the-shelf" availability and low toxicity. CAR-M cells have promising therapeutic potential because macrophages can infiltrate the TME of solid tumors. Here, we review the recent advances and future perspectives associated with engineered immune cell-based cancer immunotherapies for solid tumors. We also summarize ongoing clinical trials investigating the safety and efficacy of engineered immune cells, such as CAR-T, CAR-NK, and CAR-M, for targeting solid tumors.

Rapid diagnosis and parasitemia measurement is crucial for management of malaria. Microscopic examination of peripheral blood (PB) smears is the gold standard for malaria detection. However, this method is labor-intensive. Here, we aimed to develop a completely automated microscopic system for malaria detection and parasitemia measurement. The automated system comprises a microscope, plastic chip, fluorescent dye, and an image analysis program. Analytical performance was evaluated regarding linearity, precision, and limit of detection and was compared with that of conventional microscopic PB smear examination and flow cytometry. The automated microscopic malaria parasite detection system showed a high degree of linearity for Plasmodium falciparum culture (R² = 0.958, p = 0.005) and Plasmodium vivax infected samples (R² = 0.931, p = 0.008). Precision was defined as the %CV of the assay results at each level of parasitemia and the %CV value for our system was lower than that for microscopic examination for all densities of parasitemia. The limit of detection analysis showed 95% probability for parasite detection was 0.00066112%, and a high correlation was observed among all three methods. The sensitivity and specificity of the system was both 100% (n = 21/21) and 100% (n = 50/50), respectively, and the system correctly identified all P. vivax and P. falciparum samples. The automated microscopic malaria parasite detection system offers several advantages over conventional microscopy for rapid diagnosis and parasite density monitoring of malaria.

Kang YM, et al. J Korean Med Sci. 2021 Nov;36(46):e311. https://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2021.36.e311

The efficacy and safety of the BNT162b2 vaccine are known, but antibodies are expected to decrease over time after vaccination. We collected blood samples from 104 fully vaccinated health care workers at 3 and 5 weeks after first vaccination and 4 months after second vaccination. Antibody titers and neutralizing antibodies were measured. In our study, both antibody titers and neutralizing antibodies increased significantly at 5 weeks after first vaccination but decreased rapidly at 4 months after second vaccination. Additionally, the results showed a significant decrease regardless of gender or age. Further studies are needed to help determine the interval of SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations.

Shin MH, et al. Immune Netw. 2024 Aug;24(5):e34. https://doi.org/10.4110/in.2024.24.e34

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