Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapies are on the verge of becoming powerful immunotherapeutic tools for
combating hematological diseases confronted with pressing medical needs.

Lately, CAR-NK cell therapies have also come into focus as novel therapeutic options to address hurdles related to CAR-T cell therapies, such as therapy-induced side effects.

Currently, more than 500 CAR-T and 17 CAR-NK cell trials are being conducted worldwide including the four
CAR-T cell products Kymriah, Yescarta, Tecartus and Breyanzi, which are already available on the market.

Most CAR-T cell-based gene therapy products that are under clinical evaluation consist of autologous enriched T cells, whereas CAR-NK cell-based approaches can be generated from allogeneic donors.

Besides modification based on a second-generation CAR, more advanced CAR-immune cell therapeutics are being tested, which utilize precise insertion of genes to circumvent graftversus-host disease (GvHD) or employ a dual targeting approach and adapter CARs in order to avoid therapy resistance
caused by antigen loss.

This review takes a closer look at the commercial CAR-T cell therapies, as well as on CAR-T and CAR-NK cell products, which are currently under evaluation in clinical trials, that are being conducted in Germany.