CAR-T cell treatment in China's Zhejiang offers hope to children with lupus

Medical professionals in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, recently completed the largest clinical study in the world involving the use of CAR-T cell therapy to treat children with systemic lupus erythematosus.

The innovative medication was used to treat 20 children with the autoimmune condition.

"This is so far the world's largest cohort study in this field, and the results have boosted our confidence in using CAR-T to treat other autoimmune diseases," said Mao Jianhua, the head of the nephrology-urology center at the Children's Hospital, an affiliate of Zhejiang University's School of Medicine, in a recent interview.

Mao said all 20 patients' symptoms had subsided following treatment and that they had stopped taking the immunosuppressants and steroids that were routinely prescribed for the condition.

According to Mao, CAR-T therapy involves removing T-cells from a patient's blood and genetically altering them so that, upon re-injection into the body, they can recognize and target sick cells.

Any region of the body, but most frequently the liver, kidneys, skin, and joints, can experience extensive inflammation and tissue destruction due to lupus, a potentially fatal inflammatory illness.

Researchers have been testing the treatment in different domains since initially using it to treat blood malignancies.

In order to provide ready-to-use cell therapy, Mao and his colleagues intend to start a second research this month that will gather T-cells from healthy donors and tweak and magnify them. It is hoped that this method will help make the advanced treatment available to lupus patients whose T-cells are ineligible for modification.