New Method Produces Longer-Lasting CAR-T Cells for Cancer and HIV Treatments

Research team develops an approach to engineer immune cells that dramatically extends their effectiveness after infusion into patients.

Mar. 13, 2026 at 6:05pm

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A research team led by scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine has developed a new strategy to engineer immune cells that dramatically prolongs their effectiveness after being infused into patients to fight cancer and HIV. Their findings, published in Science Advances, describe a manufacturing approach that generates longer-lasting CAR-T cells with more sustained disease-fighting abilities compared to the existing process.

Why it matters

Current CAR-T cell therapies can initially produce dramatic remissions, but their killing ability often diminishes over time, leading to cancer relapse in roughly half of treated patients. The same persistence problem has constrained efforts to extend CAR-T therapy to treat people living with HIV. This new approach aims to overcome these limitations by generating CAR-T cells that are more long-lived and capable of self-renewal, potentially leading to more sustained control of blood cancers and suppression of HIV infection.

The details

The team used a specially engineered fusion protein called HCW9206, created by linking three naturally occurring cytokines (IL-7, IL-15, and IL-21) that promote T cell survival and immune memory. When used to generate CAR-T cells, this multi-cytokine scaffold approach resulted in more than half of the cells belonging to a rare population known as T memory stem cells, which are capable of self-renewal and generating fresh waves of highly active immune fighters over time. In contrast, less than 5% of CAR-T cells produced using the conventional method displayed this long-lived, stem cell-like profile.

  • The findings from this research were published on March 13, 2026.

The players

Harris Goldstein, M.D.

Professor of pediatrics and of microbiology & immunology, and director of the Einstein-Rockefeller-CUNY-Mount Sinai Center for AIDS Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He also holds the Charles Michael Chair in Autoimmune Diseases at Einstein.

Erin Cole, M.S.

A graduate student in Dr. Goldstein's laboratory and first author of the study.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

A premier academic center for basic science research, clinical investigation, and biomedical education located in the Bronx, New York.

HCW Biologics, Inc.

A biotechnology company based in Miramar, Florida that developed the protein scaffold used to create the multi-cytokine fusion protein HCW9206.

Caring Cross

A biotechnology company based in Gaithersburg, Maryland that contributed to the research.

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What they’re saying

“Our goal was to engineer therapeutic immune cells so they would not only be powerful killers but also long-lived and capable of self-renewal, to markedly extend their effectiveness after infusion into patients.”

— Harris Goldstein, M.D., Professor of pediatrics and of microbiology & immunology, and director of the Einstein-Rockefeller-CUNY-Mount Sinai Center for AIDS Research (PRNewswire)

“T memory stem cells are considered to be critical for long-term immune persistence. They can continually replenish the pool of active CAR-T cells, a crucially important attribute for their long-term success in combating both cancer and HIV infection.”

— Harris Goldstein, M.D., Professor of pediatrics and of microbiology & immunology, and director of the Einstein-Rockefeller-CUNY-Mount Sinai Center for AIDS Research (PRNewswire)

What’s next

The findings from this research could have important implications across the CAR-T cell field, potentially reducing blood cancer relapse rates and improving long-term remission for cancer patients. For HIV, these longer-lasting immune cells may one day help maintain viral control after stopping antiretroviral therapy, a critical step toward sustained drug-free remission and a functional cure.

The takeaway

This new approach to engineering CAR-T cells using a multi-cytokine scaffold represents a significant advancement in the field, generating immune cells with enhanced long-term persistence and disease-fighting abilities. If successful in clinical trials, it could lead to improved outcomes for patients with blood cancers and HIV, addressing a major limitation of current CAR-T cell therapies.