Using a cancer treatment method, a small study has seen sufferers of Lupus go into remission such that they were able to halt their regular medication within just three months.
The results were hailed as a groundbreaking achievement in the treatment of Lupus, a debilitating life-long disease experienced by 5 million people around the world, and the results even bear the hallmarks of a potential cure.
Two studies, the first published in Germany, and the second in the UK with patients of the most severe form of the disease, refractory systemic lupus erythematosus, (SLE) saw patients receive CAR T-cell therapy, which genetically modifies a patient’s own immune cells ex vivo.
They are then injected back into the patient carrying an important mission in their genetic code. In almost all use cases of CAR T-cell therapy, this has been the targeting of cancer cells that use signaling molecules to evade detection by the immune system. But in this case, it was used to target the faulty biological equipment that causes the disease.
Lupus is an autoimmune disorder, meaning that defects in a patient’s genetics lead to their immune system targeting normal, healthy cells. Lupus is driven by a particular kind of immune cell called a B cell, and the treatment addressed T cells with orders to attack B cells carrying the defect.
In the German study, which was conducted in 2022, all five patients experienced a depletion of B cells, which eventually came back through normal cellular replenishment in the bloodstream, but without a return of Lupus symptoms.
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“We’ve always known that in principle, CAR T therapies could have broad applications, and it’s very encouraging to see early evidence that this promise is now being realized,” said Dr. Carl June at the time; a professor at Penn State University Medicine and Director of the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies at Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center, who wasn’t involved with the study.
Recently, the same trial was replicated with three patients in the UK, including a 32-year-old and a 50-year-old who had been living with Lupus for 30 years.
The patients will be monitored for 15 years as a follow-up to examine the long-term effects. As it stands, the short-term effects relate to a significant weakening of the immune system, and or a hyperactivity of the immune system.
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Lupus, particularly SLE, involves inflammation of internal organs, joint pain, acute swelling, and other effects that many patients would consider far worse than even the long-term side effects of the treatment.
“Lupus is a disease that requires lifelong medication, but this therapy has the potential to change that, which is incredibly exciting. This groundbreaking new therapy marks a significant milestone in our research into lupus,” said Professor Ben Parker, a consultant rheumatologist at Manchester Royal Infirmary, where the procedure was in part conducted.
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