The TCR therapy landscape
Six dimensions, read off the source papers
A structured read of the TCRshows knowledge base: the target landscape, clinical results with the actual numbers, companies and pipelines, screening and antigen discovery, engineering and safety, and frontier work such as in vivo TCR-T. Every clinical figure is taken straight from the source PDFs held in the knowledge base.
The target landscape
TCR-T targets in the knowledge base fall into three groups: shared tumour antigens (CTA/TAA), restricted in expression and strongly immunogenic; driver-mutation neoantigens, tumour-specific and carrying less off-target risk; and virus-associated antigens such as HBV and EBV. Almost all are restricted by HLA-A*02 or HLA-A*11:01.
Shared tumour antigens · cancer-testis / TAA
Highly expressed, needs HLA matchingDriver-mutation neoantigens
Tumour-specific, low off-target riskVirus-associated antigens
Virus-specific, tumour-associatedClinical results, with the actual numbers
Every efficacy figure below was taken item by item from the source PDFs held in the knowledge base, with the trial identifier attached. Against CT antigens (NY-ESO-1, MAGE-A4, PRAME) in solid tumours, TCR-T now shows reproducible objective responses; against KRAS neoantigens in solid tumours it remains early and the responses are limited. That contrast is itself one of the more important readings here.
CT antigens reach 40–52% ORR in solid tumours; KRAS neoantigens remain the hard case
Other clinical programmes recorded in the knowledge base
In the post-HSCT setting, no relapses in any phase I patient; the pivotal design for TSC-101 has been agreed with the FDA.
Personalised neoantigen TCR-T in metastatic colorectal cancer, interim phase 2 results.
1514O: the first-in-human phase I of KRAS G12V-directed TCR-T in metastatic solid tumours.
A KRAS G12V mRNA vaccine combined with an anti-PD-1 antibody produced clinical benefit in advanced solid tumours.
Companies and pipelines
The knowledge base also holds company announcements and financial filings. The tiers are clear: Adaptimmune and Immatics lead in the clinic, Xiangxue was first to market in China, and TScan, Captain T Cell and others are shifting their weight towards in vivo TCR-T.
| Company / institution | Main targets | Lead asset | Stage | Milestones recorded here |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AdaptimmuneUK/US | MAGE-A4 · NY-ESO-1 | Tecelra / afami-cel, lete-cel, uza-cel | Marketed | The first TCR-T approved anywhere; Tecelra net sales were $4.0M in Q1 2025 against full-year guidance of $35–45M. In July 2025 the entire cell therapy business was sold to US WorldMeds for $55M plus $30M in milestones; financial pressure left the PRAME, CD70 and allogeneic preclinical assets behind. |
| ImmaticsGermany | PRAME | IMA203, IMA401 (TCE) | Phase I · RMAT | IMA203 reached 52.5% unconfirmed/confirmed ORR and holds FDA RMAT designation; a PRAME mRNA vaccine is in partnership with Moderna. |
| TScan TherapeuticsUS | Minor histocompatibility antigens | TSC-100 / TSC-101 | Pivotal | No relapses in any phase I patient, and the pivotal design for TSC-101 is agreed with the FDA. Solid tumour work paused and headcount cut by 30%, refocusing on haematological disease plus in vivo TCR-T, with cash into H2 2027. |
| Xiangxue Life SciencesChina | NY-ESO-1 | TAEST16001 | Confirmatory trial | China's first TCR-T product; 41.7% ORR and 83.3% DCR in soft-tissue sarcoma. |
| Affini-T TherapeuticsUS | KRAS G12V / G12D | Oncogenic driver mutation TCR-T | Preclinical / early | TCR cell therapies against oncogenic driver mutations, KRAS in particular. |
| MedigeneGermany | PRAME | MDG1011 | FIH | A first-in-human study of PRAME-specific TCR-T in high-risk myeloid and lymphoid malignancies. |
| Captain T CellGermany | Solid tumour TCRs | In vivo TCR-T platform | Financing / preclinical | Raised €20M to take its TCR-T into the clinic and to extend into in vivo T cell therapy. |
| RootPathUS/China | Personalised / tumour-reactive | High-throughput TCR discovery platform | Platform | Massively parallel library synthesis and screening for personalised TCR discovery. |
| NCI · Rosenberg labUS | Personalised neoantigens · KRAS | Personalised neoantigen TCR-T | Phase 2 interim | Personalised neoantigen TCR-T in metastatic CRC; the work that established the neoantigen methodology. |
Three signals worth watching
Adaptimmune got there first and still sold the whole cell therapy business under financial pressure: TCR-T has yet to show it can be profitable at scale.
TScan, Captain T Cell and others are moving towards the in vivo route, avoiding the cost and turnaround of ex vivo manufacture.
Immatics with Moderna, Ruijin's KRAS vaccine with anti-PD-1: TCR-T and mRNA / combination immunotherapy are converging quickly.
Screening, identification and antigen discovery
Getting from an antigen or a tumour-reactive T cell to a therapeutic TCR that can actually be developed. The knowledge base covers four complementary routes: functional high-throughput screening, sequencing and repertoire analysis, AI and library design, and antigen discovery platforms.
Functional high-throughput screening
Functional readout, throughput firstSequencing and repertoire analysis
Data-driven, unbiased discoveryAI and library design · antigen discovery platforms
Computational design · epitope miningEngineering, affinity and safety
TCR affinity cuts both ways: too low and nothing happens, too high and the receptor goes off target into normal tissue. The knowledge base covers both affinity optimisation and the off-target and cross-reactivity control that has to come with it.
Affinity engineering
affinity · avidityOff-target and cross-reactivity safety
Safety limitsFrontier directions
Beyond targets, trials and screening, the knowledge base covers three lines of work that are reshaping the field: in vivo TCR-T and LNP delivery, gene editing, and vaccines and combination therapy.
In vivo TCR-T and delivery
in vivo · LNPGene editing
CRISPR and knockdownVaccines and combination therapy
mRNA · comboClinical figures (ORR, DCR, PFS, DoR, patient numbers) are taken item by item from the source PDFs held in the TCRshows knowledge base: afami-cel (Hong et al., NCT03132922), IMA203 (NCT03686124), TAEST16001 (Pan et al., 2023), the single-arm phase 1/2 of KRAS G12V in pancreatic cancer, and Adaptimmune's Q1 2025 filing and 28 July divestment announcement.
This page is a structured selection of representative entries, not an exhaustive listing of all 1,174 items in the knowledge base. Eligibility criteria and endpoint definitions differ between trials, so ORR across assets should be read as a trend, not as a head-to-head comparison.