Results from a national survey from Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center seem to suggest that nearly one in five people diagnosed with cancer prefer an innovative treatment called CAR T-cell therapy to treat their disease.
CAR T-cell therapy is a personalized form of Cancer therapy that trains A Paitent’s own immune cells to recognize and destroy cancer.
The survey revealed that if participants were diagnosed with cancer:
- Seventeen percent (17%) of patients would prefer CAR T-cell therapy over traditional cancer treatments like chemotherapy or radiation
- Sixty-three (63%) of patients are comfortable with either CAR T-cell therapy or traditional treatments, and would rely on their doctor’s recommendation
- Four (4%) of patients would prefer traditional treatments over CAR T-cell therapy
What is CAR T-cell Therapy
CAR T-cell therapy is a type of immunotherapy that uses a patient’s own T-cells to fight cancer. In this process, T-cells are extracted from the blood and sent to a laboratory where they are genetically modified to produce ‘chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) on their surface. After this process is completed, the ‘new’ CAR T-cells, which are now able to recognize and attack cancer cells, multiply and are then infused back into the patient’s body. [1]
In simple terms, CAR T-cell therapy transforms a patient’s own healthy cells into cancer-fighting supercells.
CAR T-cell therapy is a complex, personalized treatment used to treat certain blood cancers that have not responded to or become resistant to other therapies, such as some types of leukemia and lymphoma.[1]
Advancing treatment options
“We need to take those chances to help push that progress forward,” noted Charlie Boulanger, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran whose advanced lymphoma is now in remission thanks to his CAR T-cell treatment, referring to the advances that paved the way for the FDA-approved cell therapy he received after traditional therapies failed to cure his cancer.
“The process was easy. We sat in a chair for a little while while they removed what they needed. You waited for it to come back, and then you got an injection.” Boulanger said on CAR T-cell therapy,
The new treatment allowed him to recover mostly at home.
“If you’re healthy enough to go home, I think it helps the recovery exponentially. It increases it because you have fewer stressors and an environment you’re familiar with. So I was quite happy with that,” Boulanger said.
“I was diagnosed within 90 days as cancer-free,” he concluded.
‘Eureka’
Scientists at Roswell Park are building on the success of treating patients with blood cancer like Boulanger, developing CAR T-cell therapies that can target and destroy cancer tumors that other therapies cannot.
“We think we can have another one of those eureka moments,” said Renier Brentjens, MD, PhD, the Deputy Director and Chair of Medicine at Roswell Park.
CAR T-cell Therapy
CAR T-cell therapy involves extracting T cells, a type of immune cell, from a patient’s blood and then taking them into a specialized lab. From there, scientists engineer the cells to recognize and destroy cancer cells. The cells are then duplicated by the millions and replaced in the patient’s body through an IV infusion.
To help make CAR T-cell approaches work against more cancers, Brentjens and his team at Roswell Park are now working to add an extra layer of defense or “armor” to the cells to blast through tumors and survive longer in the body.
Brian Betts, MD, a Vice Chair of Medicine at Roswell Park overseeing clinical research with cellular therapies, said to think of the “armored” CAR T-cells as soldiers storming — and overtaking — a fortress.
“That’s a huge win and going to be incredibly successful for patients in a very short period of time,” Betts said.
Regulatory approval
CAR T-cell therapy is currently FDA-approved only for certain types of blood cancer. Still, Roswell Park is also working to expand the use of this approach to treat solid-tumor cancers and autoimmune diseases like lupus.
Study Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the United States by Ipsos on the KnowledgePanel from September 5 to September 8, 2025, and surveyed 1,024 U.S. adults ages 18 and older. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.1% percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of sampling error accounts for a design effect of 1.05.
Reference
[1] CAR T-cell Therapy and Its Side Effects. American Cancer Society. Online. Last accessed on November 11, 2025.
Featured image: The in-house production of CAR T-cell therapy speeds up clinical trials and life-saving treatments for patients with cancer—Photo courtesy © 2025 Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. Used with permission.
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