Casting off: Leaving autoimmune disease behind thanks to an innovative treatment

Research team makes decisive breakthrough

24-Sep-2024

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Using the motto “Lichtet den Anker und segelt der Erkrankung davon!” (“Raise anchor and leave your illness behind”), the team at Department of Medicine 3 – Rheumatology and Immunology at the Deutsches Zentrum für Immuntherapy, Uniklinikum Erlangen, FAU has discovered an innovative treatment concept for autoimmune diseases. For the first time, a method has been developed that releases the “anchor” that has kept hold of patients in their disease and made conventional therapies ineffective. The study has been published in the journal New England Journal of Medicine.

“There’s no point in going full speed ahead or raising all the sails when the anchor hasn’t been raised yet,” explains Prof. Dr. Georg Schett, Director of the Department of Medicine 3. “Many patients with autoimmune diseases don’t make any progress as treatments such as cortisone and other immune therapies don’t provide any relief.” This feeling of being “stuck” is quite demoralizing for many of those affected, both because of the ongoing symptoms as well as the lack of hope for any improvement.

However, the research team has now made a successful breakthrough as part of a clinical trial. “We have identified one of these “anchors” and were able to raise it,” reports Prof. Dr. Ricardo Grieshaber-Bouyer, head of the study. The study focused on patients with serious autoimmune diseases where treatment has not been successful up to now. These diseases include rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune inflammatory muscle disease, systemic sclerosis such as Sjögren syndrome, where the lacrimal and salivary glands are damaged by inflammation.

The research showed that the the disease is deeply anchored in a type of immune cell – the plasma cell – that is very difficult to neutralize with conventional methods. The researchers developed a special approach in order to release this “anchor”. They used a drug that functions as an “engager” and that activates the body’s own immune cells to identify the diseased plasma cells and to destroy them. “The effect took us by surprise,” reports Dr. Melanie Hagen, lead author of the study. “The patients’ condition improved extremely quickly after treatment.”

Promising perspectives open up for patients suffering from serious autoimmune diseases with this new approach. In addition, this method is an addition to the CAR-T cell therapy already tested at Uniklinikum Erlangen and expands the range of innovative treatment approaches on offer.

The study was carried out at Deutsches Zentrum für Immuntherapie, which specializes in research into new treatment methods for autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases.

Original publication

Melanie Hagen, Laura Bucci, Sebastian Böltz, Danae-Mona Nöthling, Tobias Rothe, Kirill Anoshkin, Maria G. Raimondo, Carlo Tur, Andreas Wirsching, Jochen Wacker, Christina Düsing, Jörg H.W. Distler, Torsten Kuwert, Aline Bozec, Andreas Ramming, Georg Schett, Ricardo Grieshaber-Bouyer; "BCMA-Targeted T-Cell–Engager Therapy for Autoimmune Disease"; New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 391

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