Provided herein are, inter alia, methods and compositions including T cells expressing (i) a recombinant CAR protein which includes a peptide binding site and is capable of specifically binding cancer-specific antigens and (ii) a T cell receptor specific for a viral antigen (e.g., a CMV pp65 protein). The engineered T cells provided herein may be used in combination with a viral vaccine (e.g. cytomegalovirus (CMV) Triplex Vaccine) to treat a variety of cancers. The methods described herein also permit in vivo expansion of CMV-specific CAR T cells, instead of or in addition to ex vivo expansion, avoiding excessive T cell exhaustion that results in some cases from ex vivo manufacturing.