Engineered-in-Patient Approach Could Expand CAR T Treatment Reach

Limitations on CAR T cell therapies include their dependence on the costly engineering of patients’ T cells in the lab. Now, a team led by Carl June, MD, of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, has outlined a new method for making CAR T cells that can be done entirely within patients. The method bears a resemblance to mRNA-based COVID vaccines: It uses specially designed lipid nanoparticles—tiny cell-like capsules—to deliver CAR T-making mRNA safely to a defined subset of a patient’s circulating T cells.