When CAR meets stem cells

Abstract

The generation of immune cells from human pluripotent stem cells (embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells) has been of keen interest to regenerative medicine. Pluripotent stem cell-derived immune cells such as natural killer cells, macrophages, and lymphoid cells, especially T cells, can be used in immune cell therapy to treat incurable cancers. Moreover, since the advent of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) technology, the success of CAR-T cells in the clinic has galvanized new efforts to harness the power of CAR technology to generate CAR-engineered immune cells from pluripotent stem cells. This review provides a summary of pluripotent stem cell-derived immune cells and CAR technology, together with perspectives on combining pluripotent stem-cell derived immune cells and CAR engineering to pave a new way for developing next generation immune cell therapy.