The cancer therapy known as CAR-T has revolutionized treatment of some blood cancers since it was introduced in 2017. The therapy uses genetically altered immune cells to home in on cancer cells and destroy them.
Now, studying mice with an autoimmune disease similar to multiple sclerosis (MS), researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that the same approach can be used to eliminate unwanted cells that cause autoimmunity. The findings, available online in Science Immunology, extend the powerful tool of immunotherapy to a class of diseases that are often debilitating and difficult to treat.