Pathologists Anticipate Evolving Role Using Allogeneic Cell Therapies

Allogeneic cell therapies are advancing in clinical trials, requiring oncologists and pathologists to understand the opportunities they present for patients and the potential challenges from a laboratory perspective.

Cell therapies continue to rise in usage across the cancer landscape, with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies, mesenchymal stem cell therapies, natural killer cell therapies, and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes falling under this umbrella. Autologous CAR T-cell therapies derived from patients through leukapheresis have proven effective in hematologic malignancies, but limitations in this model have led to trials pursuing allogeneic CARs as well as other allogeneic cell therapies (ACTs) that have shown a great deal of promise.