Development of Small Molecule and Antibody Adaptors for Programming of Universal CAR T Cells

The field of immunotherapy has grown drastically since the introduction of CAR T cell therapy, which is introduced in Chapter 1.0. Methods of conditional control to reduce off-target toxicities associated with CAR T cell therapy are discussed in Chapter 2.0. Additionally, the SNAP-CAR system, developed by the Deiters and Lohmueller labs, is introduced and further explored in Chapter 3.0. In Chapter 3.2, site-specific antibody conjugation is utilized and compared directly to previous adaptors made via heterogeneous modification. Additional advantages of these site-specific adaptors are discussed in the context of ADEPT as a therapeutic in Chapter 5.0. As an alternative to using antibodies to target antigens on cancer cells, small molecule adaptors are explored as targeting ligands in Chapter 4.0.