Researchers have reported highly promising early results for CAR T therapy in a small set of patients with the autoimmune disease lupus.
Key points
- Researchers say lupus is an obvious choice for CAR T therapy because it too is driven by B cells, and thus experimental CAR T therapies against it can employ existing anti-B-cell designs.
- B cells are the immune system’s antibody-producing cells, and, in lupus, B cells arise that attack the patient’s own organs and tissues.
- T cells are among the immune system’s most powerful weapons. They can bind to, and kill, other cells they recognize as valid targets, including virus-infected cells.
- CAR T cells are T cells that have been redirected, through genetic engineering, to efficiently kill specifically defined cell types.
- CAR T therapies are created out of each patient’s own cells — collected from the patient’s blood, and then engineered and multiplied in the lab before being re-infused into the patient as a “living drug.”
- The therapies have revolutionized the treatment of certain B cell leukemias, lymphomas, and other blood cancers, putting many patients who otherwise had little hope into long-term remission. With new research, its uses go beyond the cancer treatment.
(Source: Science Daily)
