A cancer therapy put severe rheumatoid arthritis into remission
Researchers at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin have successfully tested CAR T-cell therapy on patients with severe, treatment-refractory rheumatoid arthritis. The clinical trial showed significant reduction in disease activity, with some patients achieving remission without further medication.
Why it matters
This represents a potential paradigm shift in treating autoimmune diseases by repurposing cancer immunotherapies to target the root cause of inflammation.
Immunotherapies such as CAR T-cell therapy were originally developed mainly to fight cancer. But scientists are now investigating whether these personalized treatments, made from a patient's own immune cells, could also help treat or even potentially cure autoimmune diseases.
Researchers at Charit - Universit tsmedizin Berlin have now tested CAR T-cell therapy in six people with particularly severe rheumatoid arthritis. The world's first clinical trial of its kind, reported in Nature Medicine , produced encouraging early results. Disease activity fell substantially in every participant, and by the end of the observation period, three patients no longer needed rheumatoid arthritis medication.
Why Rheumatoid Arthritis Can Be So Difficult To Treat
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic autoimmune disease in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the joints. Repeated inflammation causes swelling and can eventually damage the joints.
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