Genetically modified immune cell therapies use cells that have been engineered to improve their abilities to fight cancer, infectious disease, and other applications. Such approaches have been leveraged to produce T cells, B cells, and natural killer cells that express transgenic T cell receptors (TCRs), chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), and other enhancements. In the case of cancer, the goal of this approach is to improve tumor-specific immunogenicity and to enhance tumor cell killing.

Despite early successes, there are limitations that complicate the development, testing, and manufacturing of TCR-T, CAR-T, and NK cell therapies. These include:

• Lack of standard potency assays to measure biological activity and efficacy
• Suboptimal tumor cell models and difficulties in solid tumor cell targeting
• Challenges in assessing metabolic status to improve immune cell activities

This eBook offers important insight into the state of the industry with a focus on the latest tools and technologies designed to address the challenges of immune cell therapy development and testing.