Limitations of An Autologous CAR-T Cell Therapy Approach to Cancer

An entrepreneur based in New York, Richard DiVenuto offers consulting services to biotech, nutraceutical, and technology companies in Boston, Massachusetts; California; and Florida. He is now advising a biotechnology company that is researching the use of stem cells as a cancer treatment. As a result, Richard DiVenuto has become familiar with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy, which is proving effective against previously untreatable lymphoma and leukemia cancers

From an immunological perspective, with no allogeneic reaction, patient-derived engineered T cells offer the advantage of persisting in the body for a considerable period of time. As reported in the article “ ‘Off-the-shelf’ allogeneic CAR-T cells: development and challenges” published in the March 2020 issue of Cancer Cell Therapy, a major drawback is that such autologous therapies necessitate a bespoke manufacturing process in each patient after leukapheresis.

While the clinical data for such treatment is outstanding, the manufacturing process is expensive and can take about three weeks. This translates into treatment delays that are a particular issue for patients with acute leukemia and other highly proliferative diseases. Another issue is that autologous T cells may not be effective in certain patients due to T cell dysfunction, which reflects the tumor microenvironment and involves various immunosuppression mechanisms.

One potential solution explored in the paper centers on the use of “off-the-shelf” allogeneic CAR-T cells sourced from healthy donors.