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Research Roundups

ACGT June 2026 Research Roundup.

This month’s ACGT Research Roundup highlights cancer vaccines and cell therapies that go beyond traditional T cells—incorporating stem cells, gamma delta T cells, and even tumor cells in pancreatic, brain, and blood cancers, as well as expanding into autoimmune diseases. Additionally, advances in engineering, manufacturing, and analytical technologies aim to accelerate the development of new therapeutic agents.

Latest ACGT-Funded Research Impact

Infiltrating Pancreatic Cancer’s Shield with In Vivo CAR T cells

Ellen Puré, PhD, and a team of University of Pennsylvania researchers, including Carl H. June, MD, explored a new way to create CAR T cells without removing them from patients. Specifically, they used mRNA-loaded nanoparticles to reprogram T cells in mice, enabling them to express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) that target the FAP protein on cancer-associated fibroblasts, which build the tumor’s immune-suppressing desmoplastic shell. A single IV-administered dose of these nanoparticles was equally, if not more, effective than conventional ex vivo–manufactured CAR T cells at controlling tumor growth, pointing toward a potentially simpler, safer, and cheaper way to deliver CAR T-cell therapy to patients with solid tumors. This research was published in Cancer Immunology Research and highlighted in Penn Today.

Improving Prediction of CAR T-cell Responses in Blood Cancers

Joseph A. Fraietta, PhD, and Carl H. June, MD, both of the University of Pennsylvania, led work with Stanford University’s Crystal L. Mackall, MD, that evaluated data from 256 patients across five types of blood-cancer and 13 clinical trials to identify biomarkers that predict who will respond to CAR T-cell therapy. Rather than markers tuned to a single disease, the analysis yielded predictive signatures across the spectrum of blood cancers that could help flag in advance which patients are most likely to benefit, thereby improving how the resource-intensive treatment is applied in clinical settings. This research was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.

Crafting Creative Combinations with CRISPR

Sidi Chen, PhD, of Yale School of Medicine, led an effort that employed in vivo CRISPR screens to comb the tumor microenvironment for genes that dampen immune responses against cancer. After identifying three genes that appeared to play significant roles in concert, the team designed viral vectors to disrupt them and unleash stronger immune responses against tumors, thereby improving T cell function and making cell therapy more effective. This research was published in Cancer Discovery.

ACGT Research Fellows in the News

Carl H. June, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania, and Michel Sadelain, MD, PhD, of Columbia University, were announced as the recipients of the 2026 Ross Prize in Molecular Medicine for their visionary roles in establishing the field of CAR T-cell therapy.
Sheila K. Singh, MD, PhD, of King’s College London and McMaster University, led the development of uPAR-targeting CAR T cells and highlighted their cancer-fighting capabilities in patient-derived xenografts of glioblastoma, a hard-to-treat form of brain cancer. This research was published in Science Translational Medicine.
Yvonne Y. Chen, PhD, of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), led work that revealed that combining two different types of “armored” CAR T cells could overcome resistance mechanisms in mouse models of brain cancer. This research was published in Cancer Research.
Michael Z. Lin, MD, PhD, of Stanford University, led the creation of the MIDAS platform capable of engineering and analyzing customized proteins, and demonstrated its proof-of-principle with a bioluminescent form of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. This research was published in Molecular Systems Biology.
Robert H. Vonderheide, MD, DPhil, of the University of Pennsylvania, was elected American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) President-Elect for 2026-2027.
Brian D. Brown, PhD, of Mount Sinai, and Michel Sadelain, MD, PhD, of Columbia University, helped discover that radiation may complement and bolster the effectiveness of CAR T cells in solid cancers. This research was published in Nature Cancer.
Renier Brentjens, MD, PhD, of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, contributed to a study highlighted in the May 2026 edition of AACR Editors’ Picks that characterized the role of CD28 signaling in CAR T-cell persistence. This research was published in Blood Cancer Discovery.

Additional Work Led by ACGT Research Fellows

Greg M. Delgoffe, PhD, of the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues characterized how patients’ nutritional state influenced the activity of their T cells, in work published in Nature.
Joseph A. Fraietta, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues provided insights into the use of gamma delta CAR T cells to target pancreatic cancer in a commentary in Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer.
Stephen A. Grupp, MD, PhD, of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and colleagues reported remarkable results—with respect to both effectiveness and cost—with CAR T cells manufactured at the same location where pediatric leukemia patients received treatment. This research, to which Dr. Fraietta also contributed, was published in Cytotherapy.
Christopher M. Jewell, PhD, of the University of Maryland, shared perspectives on how to improve the design of trials using CAR T cells to help patients with autoimmune diseases in a commentary in Nature Reviews Bioengineering.
Crystal L. Mackall, MD, of Stanford University, and colleagues developed switches for CAR T cells that modulated their signaling, improved their efficacy against tumors, and protected against premature cellular exhaustion. This research was published in Cell.
Marcela V. Maus, MD, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, along with colleagues, produced two commentaries and one review article, and led work presented at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting (ASCO 2026). These covered the interactions between CAR T cells and tumors (Journal of Experimental Medicine); generating CAR T cells within the body (Blood) and the benefits and challenges of this approach (Blood); and the novel cell therapy CARv3-TEAM-E in patients with brain cancer (Journal of Clinical Oncology, from ASCO 2026).
Daniel J. Powell, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania, unveiled a strategy to harvest tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) from dogs, which, in addition to aiding pets with cancer, may provide a superior model for studying human cancers due to how dogs’ tumors develop and the nature of the mutations they possess. This research was published in Frontiers in Immunology.
Michel Sadelain, MD, PhD, of Columbia University, and colleagues penned two research highlights in Cell Research and Cellular & Molecular Immunology concerning advances in CAR T-cell strategies, including CAR T cells targeting both CD19 and BCMA in patients with lupus.
Khalid Shah, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, and colleagues published two new studies on immunotherapy for brain cancers, both in Cytotherapy, on an off-the-shelf vaccine and a cell therapy using engineered stem cells administered during brain surgery. Additionally, Dr. Shah wrote a review in Clinical Cancer Research discussing how tumor cells themselves might serve as therapeutic vehicles for cancer treatment.

Industry and Clinical Updates

Kelonia Therapeutics unveiled their latest data from ASCO 2026 on their in vivo CAR T-cell therapy, KLN-1010, for patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. With no preconditioning, all patients experienced complete responses to the off-the-shelf therapeutic, and all were minimal residual disease (MRD)-negative.
More than one-fourth of patients with relapsed or refractory small cell lung cancer and large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma experienced responses after treatment with “armored” CAR T cells targeting DLL3, according to a presentation by Zhonglin Hao, MD, PhD, Markey Cancer Center, at ASCO 2026.
Also, at ASCO 2026, a team of University of Pennsylvania researchers, including Carl H. June, MD, revealed encouraging results from a brain cancer clinical trial in which patients received CAR T cells targeting EGFR and IL13Rα2, two glioblastoma-related proteins.
Alloplex Biotherapeutics’ cell therapy, suplexa, received FDA fast-track designation for colorectal cancer, characterized by high microsatellite instability.
Collaboration between the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy and Orphan Therapeutics Accelerator aims to leverage AI to tap into the unrealized potential of previously developed cell and gene therapy products.
Brenus Pharma granted FDA authorization to begin clinical trial of its donor-derived cancer cell vaccine, STC-1010, in colorectal cancer.