Autoimmune patient in Germany makes remarkable recovery

After nine failed treatments, a 47-year-old woman in Germany has recovered from her autoimmune disease, The Guardian reports. Cell therapy at University Hospital Erlangen restored her quality of life almost entirely.

CAR-T therapy restored patients' immune system in Germany

A German resident has been dealing with autoimmune haemolytic anaemia (AIHA), immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) and antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) caused by wayward B-cells for more than a decade. When healthy, B-cells produce infection-fighting antibodies.

Her condition required her to receive daily blood transfusions, permanent blood-thinning medication and immunosuppressants. The intense treatment plan caused her to be almost entirely hospital-bound, reducing her quality of life drastically.

After many failed attempts at treating her diseases, the University Hospital Erlangen trialled chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy. By isolating T-cells, which attack abnormal cells in the bloodstream, from extracted white blood cells, engineering them to recognise the protein CD19, which is found on B-cells, and reinfusing them, doctors successfully treated the woman's condition.

Treatment requires further trials

All three diseases seem to respond to the treatment, and signs of recovery showed after just a few weeks. Her sickness has been in remission for months now, and results suggest that the therapy reset her immune system, as the reappearing B-cells in her bloodstream are healthy and functional. Further information on the case can be found in the Med.

Prof. Fabian Müller, part of her treatment team, spoke to The Guardian about the need for clinical trials to determine whether this treatment method could be effective for other autoimmune diseases. Researchers working on trials in Manchester have agreed that further studies are necessary.