Fig. 1.

Schematic diagram of approaches for generating anti-leukemia T cells for adoptive T cell immunotherapy. (a) PBMCs from patients are either stimulated with appropriate specificity against leukemia antigens, or antigen-specific CTLs isolated directly from patients. After initial stimulation, leukemia-specific T cells are selected and expanded ex vivo and then re-infused into the same patients. (b) Generation of antigen-specific CTLs from healthy donors targeting patient leukemia cells. (c) Flowchart of redirected T-cell-based adoptive immunotherapeutic. Bulk T cells/CD34⁺ HSCs from patients/donors can be redirected with TCRs/CARs and then cultured in a suitable environment ex vivo to generate antigen-specific T cells for the ACT. (d) B cells or antigen-specific T cells can be reprogramed into iPSCs and re-differentiated or directly trans-differentiated into rejuvenated antigen-specific T cells ex vivo for ACT. PBMCs: peripheral blood mononuclear cells; CTLs: cytotoxic T cells; TCR: T-cell receptor; CAR: chimeric antigen receptor; HSC: hematopoietic stem cells; T-iPSC: T cell-induced pluripotent stem cell.