# Mesothelin-Targeted CARs: Driving T Cells to Solid Tumors

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-mesothelin-mesothelioma-cancer-discov-2016/  
OnCo record `paper-mesothelin-mesothelioma-cancer-discov-2016` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Review on Mesothelin in Mesothelioma, in Cancer Discovery (2016), one of the most cited Europe PMC records with Mesothelin in its title.

## Summary

Unlabelled: Chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) are synthetic receptors that target T cells to cell-surface antigens and augment T-cell function and persistence. Mesothelin is a cell-surface antigen implicated in tumor invasion, which is highly expressed in mesothelioma and lung, pancreas, breast, ovarian, and other cancers. Its low-level expression in mesothelia, however, commands thoughtful therapeutic interventions. Encouragingly, recent clinical trials evaluating active immunization or immunoconjugates in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma or mesothelioma have shown responses without toxicity. Altogether, these findings and preclinical CAR therapy models using either systemic or regional T-cell delivery argue favorably for mesothelin CAR therapy in multiple solid tumors.

Significance: Recent success obtained with adoptive transfer of CAR T cells targeting CD19 in patients with refractory hematologic malignancies has generated much enthusiasm for T-cell engineering and raises the prospect of implementing similar strategies for solid tumors. Mesothelin is expressed in a wide range and a high percentage of solid tumors, which we review here in detail. Mesothelin CAR therapy has the potential to treat multiple solid malignancies.

Indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 26503962 (DOI 10.1158/2159-8290.cd-15-0583). Its title names Mesothelin and its text names Mesothelioma; PubMed types it as a review (Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, research-article, Review, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S., Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural). It was matched automatically to the idea "Treat the body cavity, not the bloodstream, for surface spread" and no figure has been checked by an editor.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-09-22
- Tags: europepmc-ingest
- Journal: Cancer Discovery
- Year: 2016
- DOI: 10.1158/2159-8290.cd-15-0583
- Authors: Morello A, Sadelain M, Adusumilli PS
- What it means: One of the most cited reviews Europe PMC returns for Mesothelin in Mesothelioma, so it is a natural first reading for anyone weighing the idea it is linked from. The record was linked automatically by title and abstract; read the abstract above and the paper itself before relying on any figure.
- Caveats: Matched by Mesothelin in the title and Mesothelioma in the title or abstract of the Europe PMC record; the summary reproduces the record's abstract and no figure has been verified against the full paper.; A review summarises other studies; the primary reports it cites are the evidence.

## Sources

- Cancer Discov 2016: https://doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.cd-15-0583
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26503962/
- Europe PMC: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/26503962

## Connected records

- journals: [Cancer Discovery](https://onco.cc/journals/cancer-discovery/)
- ideas: [Antibody-drug conjugates for mesothelioma: why they have failed so far and how they could work](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-adc-for-mesothelioma/), [Regionally delivered mesothelin CAR-T with PD-1 blockade](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-mesothelin-car-t-regional/), [Treat the body cavity, not the bloodstream, for surface spread](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-bio2-intracavitary-immunotherapy/)

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