Off-the-Shelf Immune Cell Therapy Hunts Down Pancreatic Cancer in Breakthrough Study
Scientists have developed an “off-the-shelf” cell therapy that can seek out and destroy aggressive tumour cells, showing remarkable success against pancreatic cancer in early tests.

In mouse studies, the treatment homed in on pancreatic tumours and wiped out cancer cells even in hard-to-reach spots like the liver and lungs, significantly slowing tumour growth and extending the animals’ survival.

The approach works by turning human stem cells into a special type of immune cell called an invariant natural killer T cell (NKT cell) and equipping it with a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) to target pancreatic cancer markers.

Unlike personalised CAR-T therapies that must be crafted for each patient, these CAR-NKT cells are inherently compatible with anyone. That means a single healthy donor’s cells could be multiplied to treat thousands of patients, and researchers estimate each ready-to-use dose could cost around $5,000 (about £3,950), vastly cheaper than typical CAR-T treatments.

The engineered NKT cells also penetrated the notoriously tough microenvironment of pancreatic tumours and attacked from multiple angles, making it hard for the cancer to hide.

While this therapy is still experimental, it offers hope that a universal, affordable immunotherapy could one day help defeat other deadly, hard-to-treat cancers.

This directly aligns with Hall 3: Therapeutics & Translational Medicine, showcasing cutting-edge cell and gene-based interventions that represent the future of targeted oncology.