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[In Depth] Fighting autoimmunity with immune cells

ScienceNOW - Fetched: June 30th, 2016, 3:00pm UTC

Autoimmune diseases share a grim similarity with cancer: People's own cells become their enemies. But a study published online in Science reveals a happier parallel, suggesting that a therapy designed to harness the immune system to attack cancer cells may also cull the turncoat immune cells behind certain autoimmune diseases. The approach relies on chimeric antigen receptor T cells, or CAR T cells: immune cells genetically modified to home in on a desired target on cancer cells or—in this case—on rogue B cells, another immune cell type. The new study only gauged the CAR T cells' capabilities in the lab dish and in mouse models of pemphigus vulgaris, an autoimmune condition in which B cells secrete antibodies that attack a protein in skin and mucous membrane. But some scientists are already calling the approach, which specifically targets the errant B cells, a breakthrough. Author: Mitch Leslie

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