Synthetic biology, when combined with immunoengineering (designated synthetic immunology), has enabled the invention of an arsenal of genetically encoded synthetic devices and systems to reprogram cells for therapeutic purposes. The engineered intelligent cells can serve as ‘living’ drugs to treat a wide range of human diseases including cancer, disorders of the immune system, and infectious diseases. As the most successful example, cells of the immune system engineered with chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) have shown curative potentials for the treatment of hematological malignancies. We present herein emerging approaches of designing smart CARs to improve their safety, specificity and efficacy in cellular immunotherapy, and describe latest advances in applying CAR-engineered immune cells to target cancer and autoimmune diseases.

合成生物学与免疫工程（指定的合成免疫学）结合后，已经发明了一系列遗传编码的合成装置和系统，可以对细胞进行重新编程以达到治疗目的。经过改造的智能细胞可以作为“活体”药物来治疗各种人类疾病，包括癌症，免疫系统疾病和传染病。作为最成功的例子，用嵌合抗原受体（CAR）改造的免疫系统细胞已显示出治疗血液恶性肿瘤的治愈潜力。我们在此介绍设计智能CAR的新兴方法，以提高其在细胞免疫疗法中的安全性，特异性和功效，并描述将CAR改造的免疫细胞应用于靶向癌症和自身免疫性疾病的最新进展。