A recent case study published in 2021 reported a remarkable response to CAR T cell therapy in a 20-year-old woman with severe systemic lupus erythematosus. The patient, Thu-Thao Vu-Thi, achieved medication-free disease remission after a single infusion of CAR T cells targeting the CD19 protein on her B cells. This initial success has led to a growing body of research, with over 100 trials currently underway, mostly in phase 1 and 2, for various autoimmune diseases, including neuroimmune conditions like myasthenia gravis. However, the field has hit a roadblock with Novartis and Bristol Myers Squibb halting their trials due to safety concerns, including deaths associated with immune effector cell-associated hemophagocytic syndrome and increased frequency of immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS). Experts emphasize the need to weigh the risks and benefits of CAR T cell therapy, particularly in patients with chronic autoimmune diseases, and to fully understand the safety profiles of these therapies beyond oncology. The conversation is shifting towards patients whose disease can be managed with existing therapies but may prefer a chance at long-term remission. Clinicians stress the importance of transparency about the experimental nature of CAR T cell therapy, its known and uncertain risks, and the limited evidence for long-term benefit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The use of CAR T cells in treating autoimmune diseases has shown promise, but recent trial halts due to safety concerns have sparked a discussion about the balance between risk and benefit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/med-pioneer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/med-pioneer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/med-pioneer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/med-pioneer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/med-pioneer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/med-pioneer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/med-pioneer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/med-pioneer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/med-pioneer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}