Immune Netw.  2022 Oct;22(5):e37. 10.4110/in.2022.22.e37.

Engineering Cell Therapies for Autoimmune Diseases: From Preclinical to Clinical Proof of Concept

• Oh S
• Payne AS

• KMID: 2536264
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4110/in.2022.22.e37

Abstract

Autoimmune diseases are caused by a dysfunction of the acquired immune system. In a subset of autoimmune diseases, B cells escaping immune tolerance present autoantigen and produce cytokines and/or autoantibodies, resulting in systemic or organ-specific autoimmunity. Therefore, B cell depletion with monoclonal Abs targeting B cell lineage markers is standard care therapy for several B cell-mediated autoimmune disorders. In the last 5 years, geneticallyengineered cellular immunotherapies targeting B cells have shown superior efficacy and longterm remission of B cell malignancies compared to historical clinical outcomes using B cell depletion with monoclonal Ab therapies. This has raised interest in understanding whether similar durable remission could be achieved with use of genetically-engineered cell therapies for autoimmunity. This review will focus on current human clinical trials using engineered cell therapies for B cell-associated autoimmune diseases.

Keyword

Autoimmunity; Cell therapy; Chimeric antigen receptor; Clinical trials; Pemphigus; Myasthenia gravis; Lupus; Neuromyelitis optica; Systemic sclerosis; Sjogren’s syndrome