Updates in CAR-T and TCR-T therapy for solid tumors from the 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting

Abstract

Adoptive cellular therapies (ACT) have reshaped the treatment landscape of hematologic malignancies and are increasingly being explored in solid tumors. Key approaches include chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy, which targets tumor-associated surface antigens in an HLA-independent manner, and T-cell receptor–engineered T-cell (TCR-T) therapy, which enables recognition of intracellular tumor antigens presented by major histocompatibility complex molecules. However, the application of CAR-T and TCR-T in solid tumors remains limited by antigen heterogeneity, an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, manufacturing complexity, and safety concerns related to on-target/off-tumor effects and cytokine-mediated toxicities. The American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting is a key platform for the presentation of cutting-edge clinical data, and in this brief correspondence, we summarize the principal early-phase clinical trials with CAR-T and TCR-T for solid tumors reported at the 2026 meeting.