Fig. 5
From: Challenges and new technologies in adoptive cell therapy
Comparison of CAR-T and CAR-NK cell therapies. A CAR-T cells can only kill tumor cells in a CAR-dependent manner, and they cannot kill tumor cells with negative or low TAA expression, leading to tumor escape. Furthermore, CAR-T cells are sensitive to tumor cell-derived PD-L1/2-mediated immunosuppression, which weakens their anti-tumor ability. B Except for the CAR-mediated cytotoxicity, CAR-NK cells retain natural recognition and killing functions and can eliminate TAA-negative or low-expressing tumor cells. Furthermore, CAR-NK cells can also kill tumor cells via ADCC and recruit other immune cells, and compared with CAR-T cells, CAR-NK cells are relatively insensitive to PD-L1/2-mediated suppression. TAA, tumor-associated antigen; ADCC, antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity