CAR-T Meeting 2026 | Enhancing CAR-T efficacy using understanding of T-cell intrinsic biology or combination strategies

So, you know, for our lab, because we’re so interested in T-cell intrinsic biology, a lot of the insights that we’re deriving from patient sample multiomics and correlative studies, and also unbiased CRISPR screens in our lab, you know, we’re using those findings and insights to inform cell engineering-based approaches to enhance CAR T-cell persistence, meaning overexpression of specific transcription factors like FOXO1 or knockout of specific genes that we think will endow CAR T-cells with the ability to persist long-term in the body. And so we think that these approaches are compatible with, you know, not just one CAR against one type of tumor, but these are potentially broadly applicable across many different CAR constructs and in many different settings, and also potentially many different cancer immunotherapies like TIL-based therapy, which again relies on T-cell killing, but not through a CAR, through the endogenous T-cell receptor. So we’re excited to try to bring those to the clinic to help patients in need. 

And then I think the other component that is being actively developed and investigated in the field is the notion of combinatorial strategies. So CAR T-cells plus either a separate cell therapy, plus bispecifics, ADCs. I mean, there are so many other promising modalities that may complement the activity of CAR T-cells. And so for me, I think even though we’re not actively doing this in my group, I’m excited to see where the field goes in terms of combining two efficacious and complementary approaches to enhance efficacy and ultimately persistence as well.

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