Progress and challenges in developing allogeneic cell therapies

Tobias Deuse; Sonja Schrepfer

doi:10.1016/j.stem.2025.03.004

Progress and challenges in developing allogeneic cell therapies

Cell Stem Cell. 2025 Apr 3;32(4):513-528. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2025.03.004.

Authors

Tobias Deuse¹, Sonja Schrepfer²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Surgery, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Transplant and Stem Cell Immunobiology (TSI)-Lab, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
² Department of Surgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Electronic address: sonja.schrepfer@cshs.org.

PMID: 40185072
DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2025.03.004

Abstract

The new era of cell therapeutics has started with autologous products to avoid immune rejection. However, therapeutics derived from allogeneic cells could be scaled and made available for a much larger patient population if immune rejection could reliably be overcome. In this review, we outline gene engineering concepts aimed at generating immune-evasive cells. First, we summarize the current state of allogeneic immune cell therapies, and second, we compile the still limited data for allogeneic cell replacement therapies. We emphasize the advances in this fast-developing field and provide an optimistic outlook for future allogeneic cell therapies.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy* / methods
Humans
Transplantation, Homologous