CXCR6-based immunotherapy in autoimmune, cancer and inflammatory infliction

T cells, including both CD4(+)and CD8(+) T cells, play a pivotal role in mediating various inflammation and immune disorders. A long-standing challenge in T cell-based immunotherapy is to precisely inactivate or delete the pathogenic T cells in inflammation and autoimmune diseases, or to selectively expand the immunocompetent T cell in tumor or other immune compromised situations, without inducing global immunosuppression or zealous immune activation respectively. To achieve this, a specific marker is needed to differentiate the pathogenic or immunocompetent T cell among the rests. Indeed, recent progress of immunology strongly suggests that CXC chemokine receptor 6 (CXCR6, CD186) is such a kind of marker. Here, we review the emerging role of CXCR6 as a novel target for immunotherapy and discuss the underlying mechanism. We propose that CXCR6-based immunotherapy will play a significant role in autoimmune, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), tumor, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and even ageing-related inflammatory infliction. (C) 2022 Chinese Pharmaceutical Association and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.

Automated summary

This article reviews the emerging role of CXCR6 as a novel target for immunotherapy and discusses the underlying mechanism. The authors propose that CXCR6-based immunotherapy will play a significant role in various diseases.