Customised treatment may stop autoimmune disease
Engineered cells from patients have allowed them to drop their medications
Atherapy based on genetically-modified cells has put six patients with systemic lupus erythematosus ( SLE ) into immediate remission , raising hopes it could dramatically improve treatment for the incurable condition .
Called CAR T cell therapy , it ’ s an advanced technique that has already been proven to treat cancers like leukaemia and lymphoma and involves the engineering of the patient ’ s immune cells , or T cells , in the lab to make them able to recognise and destroy other cells that are causing health problems . In the new research on S�� , T cells were programmed to make B cells , another type of immune cells , harmless and have led to remarkable improvements .
�We have been able to help six young patients who were suffering from a life-threatening form of S�� and cure them of the disease completely by treating them with CA� T cells , � said Dr �eorg Schett , study author and director of the Department of Medicine � � Rheumatology and Immunology at Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen-Nuremberg , in a press release .
S�� wreaks havoc on the immune system , leading it to attack healthy tissues and causing in�ammation in several organs , such as the kidneys , lungs , and heart . Patients often need long-term medical treatment to keep the disease in check , and some could be at increased risk of infection because some lupus medications switch off the immune system across the board , weaking its ability to fight off pathogens .
“ What is special about this is that a single infusion of CA� T cells brought down the in�ammation and autoimmune response like a house of cards , and the patients were able to stop all therapy including corticosteroids ,” added Dr Schett .
In fact , all the severe symptoms that were affecting them , including arthritis , fatigue , fibrosis of the heart valve , and lung in�ammation , went away .
�ther researchers who conducted the study said that the therapy managed to push a ‘ reset button ’ in the patients ’ immune systems , obliterating the diseased B cells and leading the body to churn out new healthy ones .
“ When the immune system of treated patients is examined , it is surprising that the newly-emerged B cells are ‘ naive ’, similar to a baby . We can therefore be confident in saying that a reset button really has been pressed here ,” said Dr Gerhard Krönke in the press release .
Since S�� shares some disease processes with other autoimmune diseases , researchers hope this therapy could also help treat other conditions . “ Several other autoimmune diseases which are dependent on B cells and show autoantibodies may respond to this treatment . These include rheumatoid arthritis , myositis and systemic sclerosis . But also diseases like multiple sclerosis may be very responsive to CAR T-cell treatment ,” said Dr Schett , according to the Guardian .
The authors of the research are planning to run another trial next year to test the e�cacy of CA� T cell therapy in patients with different types of severe autoimmune diseases .
SLE wreaks havoc on the immune system , leading it to attack healthy tissues and causing inflammation in several organs .
GlobalHealthAsiaPacific . com SEPTEMBER 2022
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