Laboratory study looks for a more precise immunotherapy target in T-ALL

A study published on 8 October 2026 examines T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, or T-ALL. In this disease, immune cells themselves become cancer cells. It mainly affects children and adolescents and is especially hard to treat when it returns. Existing immunotherapies can also hit healthy immune cells, because the cancer cells and healthy cells are very similar.

The team developed CAR-T cells that recognise the surface marker CD28. CAR-T cells are immune cells modified in the laboratory so they can find a chosen marker on cancer cells. In cell cultures and in mice, they fought leukaemia cells about as well as earlier approaches and left more healthy immune cells intact. Clinical trials still have to show whether this is safe and effective in patients.