Cell therapy for autoimmune diseases deemed a world-first

A new type of therapy devised by Chinese scientists using healthy donor cells, which have shown significant promise in treating severe autoimmune disorders, recently made headlines on the website of the scientific journal Nature.

Three patients at Shanghai Changzheng Hospital who are being treated for severe, treatment-resistant autoimmune diseases underwent the therapy and achieved long-term remission, representing the first reported successful use of such an approach for autoimmune diseases in the world.

The Nature article introduced chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, which involves genetically modifying a patient's T-cells — white blood cells that are an important part of the immune system — to attack cancer cells. Titled "World-first therapy using donor cells sends autoimmune diseases into remission", it was published on the Nature website on Oct 5, Beijing time.