A new analysis of the first two patients treated in a clinical trial with CAR T cell therapy explains the longest persistence of CAR T cells recorded to date against chronic lymphocytic leukemia and shows that the CAR T cells remained detectable at least a decade after infusion, with sustained remission in both patients. The study, published in Nature, was led by J. Joseph Melenhorst, PhD, a research professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine; Carl June, MD, the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and director of the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies; and David Porter, MD, the Jodi Fisher Horowitz Professor in Leukemia Care Excellence and director of Cell Therapy and Transplantation at the Abramson Cancer Center. Other Department faculty authors include Drs. Don Siegel and Bruce Levine.

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