A treatment originally developed to fight blood cancers by reprogramming a patient's own immune cells is now being tested against autoimmune diseases including multiple sclerosis, lupus, Graves' disease, and vasculitis, with hundreds of clinical trials now underway.
The therapy, known as CAR T cell therapy, works by hunting down and eliminating cells that mistakenly attack the body's own tissue. The hope, as reported by Ars Technica, is that the treatment can essentially reset the body's immune defenses to a state resembling the one that existed before the disease took hold.
At age 49, Jan Janisch-Hanzlik's multiple sclerosis had progressed to the point where she gave up an active nursing job for a desk role. Frequent falls made her afraid to carry her grandchildren, and she had moved to a larger house to accommodate a wheelchair she feared she might eventually need full-time. Even the best available medication was not improving her symptoms.
When she learned about a CAR T trial at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, close to her home in Blair, Nebraska, she phoned the clinic every other month until they were ready to take her on. She became the first patient enrolled. On June 9, 2025, she received the experimental treatment and spent the following week being monitored for side effects, including dangerous inflammation. She described sitting down to receive it as a mix of hope and fear.
CAR T therapy has shown strong results across a range of blood cancers, and researchers are now trying to determine whether those results can be duplicated in autoimmune conditions. The mechanism is similar in both cases: the reprogrammed immune cells are directed to identify and destroy a specific type of cell, whether that is a cancer cell or one involved in an autoimmune attack.
Significant questions remain. Researchers are still working to understand how consistently the therapy will work for autoimmune patients, how long any benefits will last, and what long-term side effects might emerge. The side effect profile is already known to include potentially serious inflammation, which is why patients like Janisch-Hanzlik are monitored closely in the days after treatment.
