By Ian Werther in News — 14 Mar 2026

Einstein team develops durable CAR-T cells to curb cancer and HIV relapse

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York have unveiled a new strategy to enhance CAR-T cell therapy by making the cells more durable, addressing relapse risks in cancer and persistence challenges in HIV treatment.

CAR-T therapy uses a patient’s own T cells, engineered to express a chimeric antigen receptor, to target cancer cells or HIV-infected cells. While initial responses can be strong, the immune cells often lose potency over time, allowing tumors to return or viruses to rebound.

Title HIV-I
Description Three of the earliest visible stage of Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication. It occurs when viral proteins accumulate under the cell membrane in a process called budding (a). In the next stage a crescent shaped early bud has constricted, forming a membrane-encapsulated sphere, with the dense center called a viral nucleoid (b). As the constricting process continues, the virus pinches off and becomes free extracellular infectious virus (c). At this stage, the dark circular mucleoid condenses into a bar; this morphologic feature is used to discriminate HIV-I from HTLV-II and HTLV-III.
Topics/Categories Cancer Types -- AIDS-Related Cells or Tissue -- Abnormal Cells or Tissue
Type B&W, Photo
Source Laboratory of Cell And Molecular Structure. National Cancer Institute — Representative image for context; not directly related to the specific event in this article. License: Public domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

The team developed CAR-T cells that incorporate a single protein structure linking three cytokines—IL-7, IL-15, and IL-21—to boost survival and proliferation. This design yielded CAR-T cells in which more than half displayed a T memory stem cell phenotype, a population associated with long-term persistence, compared with under 5% in conventional CAR-T cells.

In a mouse model carrying human leukemia cells, both standard and new CAR-T cells initially cleared tumors. When cancer cells were reintroduced weeks later, the conventional CAR-T cells faltered, while the new CAR-T cells rapidly expanded and prevented relapse.

In humanized mice infected with HIV, the new CAR-T cells eliminated more infected cells than the traditional design. CAR-T cells derived from HIV patients’ own cells also showed improved clearance of infected cells, suggesting broader applicability.

Graphs modelling the proportion of CAR-T cells (infused, expanders, persisters), antigen-positive, antigen-negative tumour cells, and IL6 levels across a date range for 8 patients with Acute Lymphoblsatic Leukaemia — Representative image for context; not directly related to the specific event in this article. License: CC BY 4.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

The study was led by Harris Goldstein of Einstein, who said the results have broad implications for CAR-T therapy, potentially reducing relapse in blood cancers and helping sustain viral suppression in HIV. For U.S. audiences, the work matters because CAR-T therapies are expensive and manufacturing-intensive, with limited durability currently driving repeat treatments. A longer-lived CAR-T could improve outcomes, lower relapse, ease pressure on production pipelines, and influence payer and policy decisions as the field scales.

The findings were published in Science Advances in 2026 (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aec2632). The research centers on Albert Einstein College of Medicine, a Bronx, New York institution known for its immunology and cancer biology programs, highlighting the ongoing global push to advance cell-based therapies beyond the clinic and into broader clinical practice.

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