Five People With Lupus Went Into Complete Remission After Immunotherapy

Scientists in Germany may have shown a new way to treat the disease. In a study out Thursday, the team describes how patients given a form of immunotherapy currently used to treat certain cancers have experienced a sustained remission of their symptoms, along with the auto antibodies that cause the illness. The breakthrough potential of the treatment will need more data to be confirmed.

About 1.5 million people in the US are affected by the disease, which is caused by a stray immune system. The skin is one of the affected parts of the body. The most common version of SLE affects nearly every organ in the body. It can take a long time for someone to know that they have SLE. The trademark of the condition is chronic inflammation, which can cause a range of symptoms.

Most cases of the disease are diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 44 and there is no clear cause. Flare-ups of illness are more likely when symptoms occur. Treatments can be used to manage flare-ups but there is no cure for the disease.

Antibodies attack the body's tissues. The immune system uses a subset of B cells to make auto antibodies. Current treatments for the disease attempt to deplete the body's supply of B cells, but they have had limited effectiveness so far. Some scientists theorize that a form of immunotherapy called CAR T cell therapy can work where drugs have failed.

CAR T cell therapy involves taking a person's T cells and modifying them in the lab to recognize targets on a cell's surface that they would normally have trouble finding. The same antigen that can be found on leukemia and lymphoma B cells can also be found on the B cells that produce the autoantibodies. The CD19 is a vaccine.

Schett and his team infused five patients with anti-CD19 T cells. All of them have recovered remarkably. There have been no signs of internal damage from the therapy and their symptoms have improved. The patients' autoantibodies have disappeared as well, perhaps for good, since their B cells began to replenish after 100 days. The patients didn't need any further treatment.

Schett said in an email that that is fundamentally different from any other treatment so far.

There could be a breakthrough in the treatment of the disease. There are many questions about the therapy's effectiveness, including whether these patients are truly cured and whether this will be the case for others with the disease. We are certain to have more data soon because other teams are studying CAR T cell therapy. It is possible that the therapy could change the outlook for many people with similar conditions, if the research is valid.

Patients will be followed for a longer time to make sure they stay healthy without treatment. Schett wants to know if they are cured or not. A basket study will be started in order to move this program forward.