Embodiments of the present disclosure concern improvements to cell therapy for cancer. In certain embodiments, an immune cell lacks expression of hematopoietic growth factor receptor c-MPL (myeloproliferative leukemia), the receptor for thrombopoietin (TPO), and supplementation of this effect allows an improvement for cancer cell therapy, including of hematological malignancies. In specific embodiments, immune cells comprise recombinant c-MPL expression or parts thereof and the cells have enhanced co-stimulation and cytokine signals and improved activation, persistence, and anti-tumor function compared to cells that lack recombinant c-MPL expression.
