“These patients are in remission, but we still cannot say that they are cured,” clarified Dr. Carla Gobbi, rheumatologist and coordinator of the table “What’s new in the treatment of lupus in 2022” of the 55th Argentine Congress of Rheumatology of the Argentine Society of Rheumatology (SAR), which will take place from October 12 to 15 in Córdoba.
The expert explained that this therapy consists of a complex technological process involving genetic engineering and, in this case, the person’s white blood cells are extracted and modified so that they can act in a different way in the body.
According to the authors, this study treated systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells and, during follow-up (between 3 and 17 months after treatment), all patients had experienced a improvement of symptoms, including the remission of the involvement of internal organs, as well as the disappearance of autoantibodies related to the disease, without the need to continue receiving conventional therapies.
“In the treatment, the person is immunosuppressed to erase the previous cells and these modified blood cells are injected. After three months the body manages to regenerate what was introduced,” explained the rheumatologist and warned that it carries risks, in addition to being expensive.
“In some way we are hatching the patient’s defenses before treatment,” he said, and given the encouraging result, he stated that, although it opens hope and shows a different way of managing lupus, it is a treatment that will not be available in the short term.
Although these results could constitute a new therapeutic option for patients with this pathology, longer follow-up in larger clinical trials is needed to determine the safety and efficacy of CAR-T cell therapy in this setting, the researchers noted. .
Gobbi stressed that in Argentina and on the occasion of the 55th Argentine Congress of Rheumatology, local experts will receive the experience of Laurent Arnaud, doctor in Immunology from the University of Paris and fellow specializing in Autoimmune Diseases, mainly Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, in the Pitiè-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris. The scientific meeting will discuss this work with CAR-T cells and other ongoing trials that mean an advance in the treatment against the disease.
“The patient with lupus must be clear that the key is to adhere to the recommendations made by the rheumatologist.
In general, you have to take care of your diet, use sunscreen because it is one of the factors that can activate the disease, have adequate rest and know that the disease progresses differently from one person to another,” he concluded.
SAR Congress
The latest developments in research, diagnosis and treatment of this and other rheumatic diseases will be presented at the 55th Argentine Congress of Rheumatology, which will be held from Wednesday 12 to Saturday 15 October at the Córdoba Convention Center.
During the Congress there will be several specific tables on pediatric rheumatology, as well as activities organized by non-rheumatologist professionals who work on related topics, aimed at physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, dentists, architects, among others. In addition, activities of the subcommittee for the defense of professional integrity will be presented.
Source: Ambito
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