Lupus is a long-term autoimmune disease that makes the skin, joints, brain, and kidneys hurt, inflame, and break down. Each patient with lupus has a unique set of symptoms and severity levels, which can significantly impact the quality of life. The condition can manifest in a number of ways, with systemic lupus erythematosus being the most prevalent.

Now a new study from International researchers reports that five patients with systemic lupus erythematosus who received CAR T cell treatment showed drug-free remission for up to 17 months.

Five patients with systemic lupus erythematosus who received CAR T cell therapy had drug-free remission for up to 17 months, according to an article published in Nature Medicine.

SLE is an autoimmune rheumatic illness that affects roughly 0.1% of the global population, with a high frequency in young women.

This chronic disorder, which affects the joints and skin and may seriously harm organs including the kidneys, brain, and heart, is brought on by autoantibodies, immune defense chemicals that target the body’s own cells.

Glucocorticoids and treatments that target T cells or antibody-producing B cells are used to treat the majority of patients. But these treatments don’t always work, and there is no cure available at the moment.

Georg Schett and colleagues administered engineered anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells to five patients with treatment-resistant SLE (four women and one man, median age: 22 years).

These cells are made to eliminate B cells that make antibodies by recognizing the CD19 protein on their surface.

All patients exhibited symptom improvement, internal organ involvement remission, absence of disease-related autoantibodies, and no longer required conventional medications during follow-up (3–17 months following therapy).

Mild side effects, like fever, were common with CAR T cell therapy, and no infections were seen.

Although these data suggest a novel therapeutic option for SLE patients, lengthier follow-up in bigger clinical trials is required to determine the safety and efficacy of CAR T cell therapy in this setting.

Source: 10.1038/s41591-022-02017-5

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