Table 1 Autologous vs. allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy: advantages and disadvantages. (GvHD: graft-versus-host disease)
AUTOLOGOUS CAR-T CELLS | ALLOGENEIC CAR-T CELLS | ||
|---|---|---|---|
ADVANTAGES | No risk of GvHD | Potential GvHD | DISADVANTAGES |
Intermediate to long persistence (months or years). No immune rejection. | Limited in vivo persistence: need of additional modifications or patient immunosuppression. Potential immune rejection. | ||
DISADVANTAGES | High costs of manufacturing | Possibility of large-scale manufacturing and, consequently, important potential cost reduction | ADVANTAGES |
Time of manufacturing (typically > 1 week) may cause delays in patient treatment | Immediate availability for patient treatment | ||
Donor-dependent manufacturing efficiency | Possibility of product standardisation | ||
Characteristics of T cells affected by patient age, cancer disease and/or treatments | Optimal quality of T cells due to obtaining from healthy donors (viability, proliferation and potency) and possibility of donor selection | ||
Risk of product contaminated with tumour cell (leukaemias; rare but serious) | No risk of product contamination by tumour cells | ||