Molecule holds promise to reprogram white blood cells for better cancer treatment

Cancer immunotherapy using "designer" immune cells has revolutionized cancer treatment in recent years. In this type of therapy, T cells, a type of white blood cell, are collected from a patient's blood and subjected to genetic engineering to produce T cells carrying a synthetic molecule termed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) that is designed to enable T cells to recognize and destroy cancer cells. Then these genetically modified CAR T cells are expanded to large quantity and infused back to the patient.