Improving CAR T
Optimizing CAR design and adapting manufacturing processes to generate cell products enriched for T-cell subsets, such as early memory cells, are among strategies being explored to improve CAR T effectiveness.1 Also, dual-antigen targeting to interdict antigen escape and rational combination treatments to enhance persistence are under investigation, along with efforts to improve CAR T-cell therapy safety (for example, incorporation of a suicide gene safety system). They note further that several groups are researching use of induced pluripotent stem cells to generate large quantities of off-the-shelf CAR T-cell immunotherapies that would circumvent the complex, costly, and time-consuming process of manufacturing patient-specific autologous CAR T cells.
References
1. van de Donk N et al. Lancet Haematol. 2021 June;8(6):e446-61.
2. Munshi NC et al. N Engl J Med 2021; 384:705-716.
3. Berdeja JG et al. The Lancet. 2021 July; 398:314-24.
4. Wang D et al. Blood. 2021 May;137(21):2890-901.
5. Lee L and Yong K. Blood. 2021 May;137(21):2859-60.