Abstract
Cancer is the leading cause of death, accounting for nearly 1 in 6 deaths globally. Surgical removal of tumors, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, small molecular inhibitors, and tumor-specific antibodies are standard treatments for cancer. However, these treatments can have adverse off-target effects and poor tumor penetrance and can be inefficient in control and prevention of cancer. In the past several years, cell-based immunotherapies have been developed and applied in the clinic. These cell-based therapies are engineered to be tumor-specific, persistent and have reduced off-target complications. For cell-based immunotherapy, patient-derived leukocytes are harvested, manipulated ex vivo, and reintroduced into patients for treatment. This chapter will describe the molecular techniques used to generate engineered leukocytes, such as T cells, natural killer (NK) cells, and dendritic cells (DCs) and their applications in cancer immunotherapy.