CAR T-cell therapy puts severe rheumatoid arthritis into remission in six patients
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Researchers at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin tested CAR T-cell therapy in six people with severe rheumatoid arthritis. Disease activity fell substantially in every participant, and three patients no longer needed rheumatoid arthritis medication by the end of the observation period. The world's first clinical trial of its kind, reported in Nature Medicine, produced encouraging early results.
Key Facts
- The trial at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin involved six people with particularly severe rheumatoid arthritis.
- Disease activity fell substantially in every participant.
- By the end of the observation period, three patients no longer needed rheumatoid arthritis medication.
- The results were reported in Nature Medicine.
- The therapy targets CD19, a surface molecule on disease-driving B cells.
Trial Design
Prof. David Simon and Prof. Gerhard Krönke at Charité's Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology designed the trial for patients with treatment-refractory rheumatoid arthritis. The researchers tested whether CAR T cells can seek out disease-driving B cells even when they are buried deep within body tissues. Their goal is to eliminate as much of the abnormal B-cell memory as possible and effectively give the B-cell system a new start.
Mechanism of Action
CAR T cells were first developed as a cancer treatment, but their potential uses are expanding. In cancer therapy, a patient's immune cells are modified so they can recognize and destroy tumor cells. For autoimmune diseases, scientists instead want to direct those engineered cells toward immune cells that help sustain the disease. The identifying marker on many B cells, both abnormal B cells in cancers of the blood or lymphatic system and disease-driving B cells in rheumatoid arthritis, is the surface molecule CD19. Prof. David Simon described CD19 as a kind of 'name tag'.
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CAR T-cell therapy puts severe rheumatoid arthritis into remission in six patients
