A new form of in vivo CAR-T therapy kills leukemia, multiple myeloma, and sarcoma in mice, opening the door to a future off-the-shelf cancer treatment without chemotherapy.

For years, one of the most powerful weapons against certain blood cancers, called CAR-T therapy, has required an elaborate process: Doctors extract a patient’s immune cells, ship them to a specialized facility where they’re genetically reprogrammed to fight cancer, then ship them back for infusion into the patient’s bloodstream. This has revolutionized cancer treatment, but the time and expense place it out of reach for thousands of patients.

Now, scientists at UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley have developed a method to precisely reprogram these cancer-fighting cells directly inside the body, potentially eliminating the barriers that have kept this life-saving therapy out of reach for many patients around the world.