Search

Abstract: Cellular immunotherapy of cancer in the form of chimeric antigen receptor-modified T-cell therapy has become a standard treatment for lymphoid and more recently plasma cell malignancies. Although their successes in these cancers represent a breakthrough for adoptive cell therapy, there are several challenges to their continued growth in the field of cancer medicine. In this review, we discuss the progress made thus far toward achieving "off-the-shelf" accessibility of cell therapies that has the potential to greatly offset the costs associated with the current practice of making patient-specific products. We also review the innovations under investigation that attempt to make cellular therapy applicable to solid tumors as well., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest and Source of Funding: P.D.L. and M.B. have patent applications in the field of adoptive cell therapy of cancer, and M.B. is an equity holder or Scientific Advisory Board member of companies (Allovir, Tessa, Marker Therapeutics, Allogene, Kuur, Walking Fish, Turnstone Biologics, Posedia, Tscan, Bluebird Bio, Adaptimmune Therapeutics, Adintus, Onkimure, Triumvira Immunologics, Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Memgen LLC, Brooklyn, Immunotherapeutics, Coya, and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals) who are developing cellular therapies for cancer. M.B. receives royalties from Takeda and Bellicum. Support was provided by NIH SPORE in Lymphoma 5P50CA126752, Leukemia Lymphoma Society SCOR 7019-19, CPRIT Early Career Clinical Investigator Award (RP200584)., (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Refractory and relapsed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and T-lineage leukemia have poor prognosis and limited therapeutic options. Adoptive cellular immunotherapies are emerging as an effective treatment for patients with chemotherapy refractory hematological malignancies. Indeed, the use of unselected donor lymphocyte infusions has demonstrated successes in treating patients with AML and T-lineage leukemia post-allogeneic transplantation. The development of ex vivo manipulation techniques such as genetic modification or selection and expansion of individual cellular components has permitted the clinical translation of a wide range of promising cellular therapies for AML and T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Here, we will review clinical studies to date using adoptive cell therapy approaches and outline the major challenges limiting the development of safe and effective cell therapies for both types of acute leukemia.