Advances in cellular therapy for the treatment of leukemia

Adoptive immunotherapy in the form of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is a treatment modality for acute and chronic leukemias that has been in practice for several decades. Drawbacks to transplantation include toxicity from chemotherapy/radiation conditioning regimens, additional toxicity from graft versus host disease, and reliance on appropriate human leukocyte antigen matched donors. Newer modalities with increased specificity of donor cells to tumor cells in addition to therapies that do not require engraftment for anti-tumor effect reduce the risk of graft versus host disease and may create a more robust graft versus leukemia response. Without the need for engraftment, or at the very least in the absence of a 100% engraftment requirement, conditioning regimens may be minimized. Three methods of adoptive immunotherapy that may offer some of these advantages over traditional transplantation are donor lymphocyte infusions (DLI), chimeric antigen receptor modified T cells (CAR T cells), and cellular immunotherapy. DLIs and cellular therapy consist of transfusing T lymphocytes from the donor to recipient in an unmanipulated form. Alternatively, donor T lymphocytes can be modified with addition of chimeric antigen receptors for specific antigen directed killing of tumor cells. Significant responses and survival benefit have been reported with these modalities. Herein, we review the mechanisms for these newer adoptive immune therapies, clinical indications for their use, and potential future directions.