Forget weeks in the lab. One shot could soon be all it takes to rewire your immune system and fight cancer.
A team of scientists at Capstan Therapeutics has developed a game-changing treatment that turns the body into its own cell therapy factory. Using mRNA-loaded nanoparticles, a single injection can temporarily reprogram immune cells into CAR-T cells — specialized defenders that can destroy tumors or reset the immune system.
This approach could revolutionize how we treat cancer and autoimmune diseases.
Currently, CAR-T therapy requires extracting a patient’s immune cells, genetically modifying them in a lab, and then reinfusing them weeks later — a process that can take time, risks complications, and cost up to $1 million per treatment.
Capstan’s method skips the lab entirely.
In preclinical animal trials, the injection triggered immune responses within hours, rapidly shrinking tumors and showing major potential for treating autoimmune conditions. And because the reprogramming is temporary, there’s no permanent change to a patient’s DNA — a huge win for safety.
- One shot.
- No permanent gene edits.
- A fraction of the cost.
- Hours instead of weeks.
While human trials are still on the horizon, researchers say the early results are “incredibly promising.” If successful, this could mark a paradigm shift — where complex cellular therapies happen inside the body, on demand, without labs, delays, or sky-high price tags.
It’s personalized medicine at full speed — and possibly the future of cancer and autoimmune care.