Chimeric antigen receptors: On the road to realising their full potential

Figure 1 Chimeric antigen receptor structure. A: Most commonly CARs are targeted using the VH and VL domains of a monoclonal antibody; B: In prototypic CAR designs, these were individually fused to the constant domains of TCR-Cα and TCR-Cβ; C: However, more recent iterations entail the initial fusion of VH and VL, thereby creating a scFv moiety which is then fused to a hinge/spacer and a T-cell activating module, such as the endodomain of the ζ subunit of the TCR/CD3 complex. CH: Constant heavy domains; CL: Constant light domains; CARs: Chimeric antigen receptors; VH: Variable heavy; VL: Variable light; scFv: Single chain variable fragment.