Novel CAR-NK Cell Technology Targets Lupus and Beyond

Published April 2020 | Cell Reports Medicine

The revolution in cellular immunotherapy that has transformed cancer care may soon show new applications against lupus and other autoimmune diseases, thanks to a breakthrough involving natural killer (NK) cells.

A team of Cincinnati Children’s scientists led by Seth Reighard, PhD, Stephen Waggoner, PhD, and Hermine Brunner, MD, MSc, MBA, reports early success at engineering NK cells to express chimeric antigen receptors (CAR), which allows them to target specific cell types involved in autoimmune disease.

In laboratory testing of human cells and a humanized mouse model of lupus, these CAR-NK cells targeted a specific harmful population of T cells, known as T follicular helper cells (Tfh), without harming other cell types.

“This is the first method to specifically remove an otherwise intractable population of harmful cells,” Waggoner says. “We think targeting them will be safe and clinically beneficial in multiple diseases. Our approach started with lupus because the disease is a leading cause of death in young women for which a cure is presently lacking.”

Systemic lupus erythematosus affects 20-150 per 100,000 people in the U.S. and ranks among the five leading causes of death among African American and Hispanic women, aged 15-34.

In addition to potential improvement in lupus outcomes, the co-authors say this discovery may also open doors to new treatments for other diseases that involve aberrant Tfh responses, including Sjögren syndrome, juvenile dermatomyositis, multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis.