The remarkable efficacy of anti-CD19-chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy in both B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) and lymphomas1,2 has demonstrated the clinical importance of genetically modified T-cells as a cancer therapy, and simultaneously exemplified Eshhar’s original vision to make a chimeric cell that combines the antibody specificity of a B-cell with the cytotoxic properties of a T cell3. This evidence concerns the gene CD19 and cancer.