Immune cells that are engineered to attack cancer cells, known as CAR-T cells, are used to treat some types of blood cancer. However, only about 5 percent of hospitals in the United States have the ability to generate and deliver CAR-T cells to patients. For many patients, this means the cells need to be frozen and shipped long-distance.

To help make this type of therapy accessible to more people, researchers at MIT have developed a new way to protect the cells from damage that can occur when they are frozen for storage and shipment. Their technique significantly reduces the use of a chemical preservative that is now used to protect the cells, which should make it easier for more hospitals to provide this treatment option to patients.

Instead of treating the cells with a cryoprotective chemical that has to be removed before treatment, the researchers were able to preserve them using a nontoxic antifreeze sugar.