New Method Extends CAR-T Cell Disease Combat

Research team develops approach to engineer longer-lasting immune cells for cancer and HIV treatment

Mar. 14, 2026 at 5:03am

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A research team led by Albert Einstein College of Medicine scientists has developed a new strategy to engineer immune cells that dramatically prolongs their effectiveness after being infused into patients to fight cancer and HIV, addressing a major limitation of current treatments. Their findings describe a manufacturing approach that generates longer-lasting immune cells that provide more sustained control of human blood cancers and suppression of HIV-infection in mouse models.

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 engineering CAR-T cells that are longer-lived and capable of self-renewal, to markedly extend their effectiveness after infusion into patients.

The details

The research team developed an alternative approach for producing CAR-T cells using a specially engineered protein scaffold called HCW9206. This scaffold links three naturally occurring cytokines (immune cell signaling proteins)—IL-7, IL-15, and IL-21—which are known to promote T cell survival and immune memory. When the team used this multi-cytokine scaffold to generate CAR-T cells instead of the standard activation protocol, more than half of the resulting CAR-T cells belonged to a rare population known as T memory stem cells, long-lived cells 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 were published on March 13, 2026.

The players

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

A private medical school in the Bronx, New York, and one of the nation's premier institutions for medical education, biomedical research, and clinical care.

Harris Goldstein, M.D.

Professor of pediatrics and of microbiology & immunology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and director of the Einstein-Rockefeller-CUNY-Mount Sinai Center for AIDS Research. 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.

HCW Biologics, Inc.

A biotechnology company based in Miramar, Florida, that develops innovative immunotherapies.

Caring Cross

A nonprofit organization based in Gaithersburg, Maryland, that focuses on developing cell and gene therapies to cure diseases.

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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, Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Science Advances)

“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, Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Science Advances)

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, the longer-lived immune cells may one day help maintain viral control after stopping antiretroviral therapy, a critical step toward sustained drug-free remission and, potentially, 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 longer-lasting and more persistent immune cells that could dramatically improve the long-term efficacy of CAR-T cell therapies for both cancer and HIV.