Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41513407›Full record

ArticleJournal for immunotherapy of cancer2026

Engineering single-vector logic-gated CAR T cells with transgene sizes beyond current limitations.

Philipp C Rommel, Nils W Engel, Julia K Malachowski, Divanshu Shukla, Isabella R Hodson, Donna Gonzales, Johannes C M van der Loo, Regina M Young, James L Riley, Bruce L Levine and 1 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal for immunotherapy of cancer, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Review
  3. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Philipp C Rommel *Center for Cellular Immunotherapies, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA prommel@pennmedicine.upenn.edu cjune@upenn.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9790-4086
Nils W Engel *Center for Cellular Immunotherapies, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Julia K MalachowskiCenter for Cellular Immunotherapies, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Divanshu ShuklaCenter for Cellular Immunotherapies, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Isabella R HodsonCenter for Cellular Immunotherapies, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Donna GonzalesCenter for Cellular Immunotherapies, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Johannes C M van der LooRaymond G Perelman Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Regina M YoungCenter for Cellular Immunotherapies, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
James L RileyCenter for Cellular Immunotherapies, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Bruce L LevineCenter for Cellular Immunotherapies, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Carl H JuneCenter for Cellular Immunotherapies, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA prommel@pennmedicine.upenn.edu cjune@upenn.edu.

Funding

IMMUNOBIOLOGY OF NORMAL AND NEOPLASTIC LYMPHOCYTEST32CA009140 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · PI Malay Haldar, WARREN S PEAR · 1985 to 2026
$16.1M
NCI NIH HHS T32 CA009140
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundEngineering chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells with logic-gated synthetic Notch (synNotch) receptor circuits can enhance specificity and mitigate on-target/off-tumor toxicity. However, the conventional synNotch system uses two lentiviral vectors encoding the synNotch receptor and inducible CAR, requiring dual transduction and cell sorting, which limits clinical translation. Integrating the synNotch-CAR circuit into a single lentiviral vector could overcome this limitation, yet manufacturing CAR T cells with large transgenes remains challenging, as increasing transgene size drastically reduces lentiviral titers and T cell transduction efficiency. Current production workflows compensate for low transduction efficiency by sorting transduced cells, further impeding clinical translation. Consequently, these constraints have limited the broader development of synNotch-CAR T cell therapies.

methodsWe engineered a single-vector synNotch (svsNotch) system that integrates all components of the conventional dual-vector circuit into one lentiviral vector to facilitate clinical translation. To overcome the low lentiviral titers and T cell transduction efficiency caused by the large svsNotch transgene, we established an optimized CAR T cell production workflow for effector T cells with large lentiviral transgenes.

resultsOur optimized workflow increased T cell transduction rates by up to 14.8-fold and enabled the production of effector T cells with lentiviral transgenes exceeding the effective packaging capacity limit of 9.2 kb. As a proof of concept, we engineered human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-mesothelin (MSLN) svsNotch (9.2 kb), in which a synNotch receptor targeting HER2 regulates the expression of a second-generation 4-1BBζ CAR against MSLN to enable selective targeting of double-positive HER2

conclusionThese data establish a framework for engineering logic-gated single-vector immunotherapies and provide an optimized workflow for generating CAR T cells with transgenes that exceed current size limitations.

Indexed as

Genetic VectorsImmunotherapy, AdoptiveOvarian NeoplasmsReceptors, Chimeric AntigenT-LymphocytesTransgenesAnimalsErb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine KinasesFemaleHumansLentivirusMiceReceptors, NotchTransduction, GeneticErb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine KinasesReceptors, Chimeric AntigenReceptors, Notchchimeric antigen receptor - CARimmune modulatoryimmunotherapyovarian cancerT-lymphocytes

Identifiers

PMID41513407
PMCPMC12815206

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.