Engineered T-Cells take on blood cancers in early trial

This early-phase study tested a new type of cell therapy for people with advanced B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma or chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) that had returned or not responded to standard treatments. Researchers took patients' own immune cells (T-cells) and added a special receptor (CD19-CD28) or trained them to recognize the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) to help them attack cancer cells more effectively. The main goals were to find a safe dose and see how long the modified cells lasted in the body.