Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-expressing T cells represent a promising approach to cancer therapy, but safety and efficacy are still major hurdles. Scientists at Boston University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have now developed a new CAR technology, called split, universal, and programmable (SUPRA) CAR, which they claim represents the “Swiss army knife of CAR” and can simultaneously address tumor resistance, prevent immune system overactivation, and enhance specificity. The SUPRA CAR system comprises a universal receptor expressed on T cells, to which a tumor-targeting single-chain variable antibody fragment (scFv), or adaptor molecule, is attached. “Instead of thinking about CAR-T as engineering cells that kill cancer, the way I think about it is as an antibody that drags a killer T cell with it," says Boston University’s Wilson Wong, Ph.D. Describing the technology in a paper in Cell , Wong and Jang Hwan Cho, Ph.D., also at Boston University, ...