Chinese Scientists Break Foreign Monopoly on CAR-T Gene Therapy

Researchers at Yangzhou University successfully extracted two highly active DNA transposons, named PS and ZB, from fish genomes, breaking a foreign technical monopoly in gene delivery tools for CAR-T tumor immunotherapy. The team spent nearly 20 years overcoming technical hurdles to provide a core tool for developing safe, controllable, and independent gene therapy in China.

The technology has been transferred to Shanghai Cell Therapy Group for 10 million yuan. New CAR-T immunotherapies developed using these transposons are expected to reduce treatment costs from over a million yuan to as little as one-fifth of that amount, making life-saving treatments more accessible.

The researchers focused on fish genomes because their evolutionary distance from humans offered a balance between compatibility and the preservation of active transposons. The team engineered the transposons to improve performance, achieving comparable and even surpassing results compared to international products.

The PS transposon is simpler to use and less toxic, while the ZB transposon demonstrates unique gene delivery advantages, targeting “safe harbor” locations within the genome for stable and effective expression. Clinical trial data show complete tumor regression in three patients with advanced lymphoma treated with the new “闪CAR-T” (“flash CAR-T”) therapy, completed in as little as 6 hours.