Small study adds to growing hope CAR-T cell therapy could revolutionize autoimmune disease treatment
People with autoimmune disorders don’t usually get to talk about a cure. But a small new study is raising hopes CAR-T therapy could one day change that.
People with autoimmune disorders don’t usually get to talk about a cure. There’s symptom management, hopeful periods of remission often followed by relapses, but rarely a lasting fix for the way their immune system attacks healthy cells. If the immune system is an army, then those with conditions like lupus, multiple sclerosis, or rheumatoid arthritis are often fighting a never-ending war of friendly fire.
But over the last few years, researchers in Germany have begun testing the potential of CAR-T therapy — a cutting-edge cancer treatment in which a patient’s immune T cells are genetically modified in a lab to better attack disease targets — to help those with autoimmune disorders. Their latest findings, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, provide evidence that has led experts to consider, tentatively, using the c-word.
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