Engineered immune-cell design continues to iterate on durability and activation in solid tumors. A study reports engineered T-cell receptors with built-in ICOS signaling that may extend anti-tumor activity, while another line of work (reviewed here) emphasizes the continuing clinical push to activate intratumoral T cells rather than rely solely on antigen-specific recognition. The combination underscores how next-generation cell therapies are evolving from targeting to sustaining immune function inside hostile tumor microenvironments.