# Human chimeric antigen receptor macrophages for cancer immunotherapy

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-klichinsky-nat-biotechnol/  
OnCo record `paper-klichinsky-nat-biotechnol` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Paper cited by one technology page, indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 32361713 and published in Nature Biotechnology; the citing page links this DOI, which is how the record was matched.

## Summary

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy has shown promise in hematologic malignancies, but its application to solid tumors has been challenging 1-4. Given the unique effector functions of macrophages and their capacity to penetrate tumors 5, we genetically engineered human macrophages with CARs to direct their phagocytic activity against tumors. We found that a chimeric adenoviral vector overcame the inherent resistance of primary human macrophages to genetic manipulation and imparted a sustained pro-inflammatory (M1) phenotype. CAR macrophages (CAR-Ms) demonstrated antigen-specific phagocytosis and tumor clearance in vitro. In two solid tumor xenograft mouse models, a single infusion of human CAR-Ms decreased tumor burden and prolonged overall survival. Characterization of CAR-M activity showed that CAR-Ms expressed pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, converted bystander M2 macrophages to M1, upregulated antigen presentation machinery, recruited and presented antigen to T cells and resisted the effects of immunosuppressive cytokines. In humanized mouse models, CAR-Ms were further shown to induce a pro-inflammatory tumor microenvironment and boost anti-tumor T cell activity.

Indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 32361713 (DOI 10.1038/s41587-020-0462-y). Matched by DOI alone: one technology page cites this DOI among its external links (the pages are listed under Related), and this page was written so that the citation resolves inside OnCo. No figure has been checked by an editor.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-09-22
- Tags: europepmc-ingest
- Journal: Nature Biotechnology
- Year: 2020
- DOI: 10.1038/s41587-020-0462-y
- Authors: Klichinsky M, Ruella M, Shestova O, et al.
- What it means: One technology page on OnCo cites this paper by its DOI; this record gives the citation a page of its own so a reader can follow it without leaving OnCo. Read the abstract above alongside the citing page listed under Related; the record was created automatically from the Europe PMC entry and its figures have not been checked by hand.
- Caveats: Matched to the citing OnCo records by DOI alone; the summary reproduces the Europe PMC abstract and no figure has been verified against the full paper.

## Sources

- Nat Biotechnol 2020: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-020-0462-y
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32361713/
- Europe PMC: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/32361713

## Connected records

- technologies: [CAR-NK & CAR-macrophage](https://onco.cc/technologies/car-nk-macrophage/)
- journals: [Nature Biotechnology](https://onco.cc/journals/nature-biotechnology/)

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