CAR-T Cell Therapies from the Transfusion Medicine Perspective

The use of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy for the treatment of hematologic malignancies has generated significant excitement over the last several years. From a transfusion medicine perspective, the implementation of CAR-T therapy as a potential mainstay treatment for not only hematologic but also solid-organ malignancies represents a significant opportunity for growth and expansion. In this review, we will describe the rationale for the development of genetically re-directed T-cells as a cancer therapeutic, the different elements that are required to engineer these cells, as well as an overview of the process by which patient cells are harvested and processed to create and subsequently validate CAR-T cells.

Source: Transfusion Medicine Reviews - March 27, 2016 Category: Hematology Authors: Andrew Fesnak, ChieYu Lin, Don L. Siegel, Marcela V. Maus Source Type: research