World-first therapy using donor cells sends autoimmune diseases into remission
nature.com/articles/d41586-...
Sharing this article even though I still haven't made sense of it. It is clear that a lot more research is needed, and testing on scale. So can't get too excited. But interesting nevertheless.
Looks interesting for the future.
CAR-T therapies are certainly very interesting - but I won't be queueing just yet until they sort the more extreme potential adverse effects. One thing using it for life-threatening disorders ...
..and will it even be considered for 'so-called' self limiting diseases like PMR & GCA?
To be honest - not sure I'd want it for PMR/GCA.
Agree….
It is *very* early days, and yes, side effects are horrendous - but nonetheless, it's a major step forward and tremendously exciting.
An excellent article. In effect, the scientists genetically modify some immune cells (T-cells) so that they recognise and destroy the rogue B-cells that are causing the autoimmune symptoms. This is a much more focused approach than suppressing the whole immune system (both working parts and faulty) with steroids. The fact that the immune systems of some patients on the trial seemed to correct themselves after a course of treatment is very promising, but it's early days.
The technique has previously been used to attack mutated cancer cells, with considerable success. The big difference is that cancer cells reproduce rapidly and evolve quickly. When you corner them with a finely-tuned treatment, resistant strains can develop that form new tumours. Hopefully, the B-cells of the immune system will not behave similarly.
For this "CAR-T" therapy to be used for GCA/PMR, scientists would first have to identify the very specific B-cells that cause the auto-inflammation. I suspect the diseases targeted in the study were antibody-mediated ones, which are very specific. Those types of disease can usually be diagnosed accurately with particular blood tests - which look for those antibodies - unlike GCA/PMR.
Here's another link to the article I've summarised above:
nature.com/articles/d41586-...
"For this "CAR-T" therapy to be used for GCA/PMR, scientists would first have to identify the very specific B-cells that cause the auto-inflammation"
Not to mention, not all autoimmune disease is caused by B-cell malfunction and it is known there are other causes of PMR/GCA inflammation besides the B-cell mediated one.
Family links with auto immune disease
Auto immune disease linked to western diet - article in The Guardian
Vitamin D supplementation and auto-immune disease
Pred & Methotrexate, yes or know and the need when dealing with other auto immune conditions as well as PMR
This may be the answer to Auto-Immune Disorders...
