Artificial T cell receptors (also known as
chimeric T cell receptors, chimeric immunoreceptors, chimeric antigen receptors (CARs)) are engineered receptors, which graft an arbitrary specificity onto an
immune effector cell. Typically, these receptors are used to graft the specificity of a
monoclonal antibody onto a
T cell; with transfer of their coding sequence facilitated by
retroviral vectors. The receptors are called
chimeric because they are composed of parts from different sources.