US EditionResearchers try bold new approach in a race to better treat autoimmune diseases
Researchers at Johns Hopkins, NIH, and global partners develop therapies targeting immune cells to achieve longer-lasting remissions in over 140 autoimmune diseases, NIH reports.
- Earlier this year, Johns Hopkins University and NIH researchers reported developing immune-reprogramming therapies, including CAR‑T, T cell engagers, and mRNA nanoparticles, as noted Monday.
- Facing treatments that only blunt immune activity, patients with autoimmune diseases rely on lifelong costly therapies with serious side effects, so researchers developing durable immune-reprogramming strategies seek deeper remissions.
- At Johns Hopkins and other centers, CAR‑T therapy, developed for blood cancers, filters and programs T cells to destroy antibody-producing B cells, and some patients have achieved drug-free remission.
- Researchers warn that safety and durability questions persist, and early-stage clinical trials are underway worldwide testing immune-reprogramming approaches, mostly for patients who exhausted other treatments.
- Looking ahead, studies in people are still a few years away but about 140 autoimmune diseases affect tens of millions, and companies are developing off-the-shelf versions.
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By LAURAN NEERGAARD Scientists are testing a revolutionary approach to treating rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus, and other devastating autoimmune diseases: reprogramming patients' unbalanced immune systems. When the body's immune cells attack it instead of protecting it, current treatments lessen the effects of that internal onslaught but don't address or fix the cause. Patients face a lifetime of expensive medications, injection…
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Scientists create special antibody that shuts down rogue T cells safely
A promising breakthrough in autoimmune disease research may open the door to safer and more effective treatments. Scientists have engineered a special antibody that can selectively calm the immune system without weakening its defenses. Their method targets the specific immune cells that cause damage in diseases like Type 1 diabetes, hepatitis, and multiple sclerosis—without the usual side effects of widespread immune suppression. The research, p…
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