Cancer Treatment Now Targeting Lupus and MS

A cancer therapy that's saved thousands of lives is now showing promise against diseases like lupus and multiple sclerosis, potentially freeing patients from decades of daily medication.

Dr. Alicia Lieberman at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo is leading research into CAR T-cell therapy for autoimmune diseases. The treatment takes immune cells from a patient's blood, teaches them to fight disease, and returns them in a single infusion.

"We're rethinking our approach to be able to offer an effective and safe immune reset," Dr. Lieberman says. The goal is a one-and-done treatment where patients' bodies learn to fight back against autoimmune disease within weeks.

Nearly one in 10 Americans lives with an autoimmune disease, where the body mistakenly attacks itself. Conditions like lupus, MS, and rheumatoid arthritis require lifelong medications to manage symptoms ranging from swollen joints to memory problems.

The therapy works by extracting T cells from a patient's blood and engineering them in a lab to recognize and destroy overactive B cells that drive autoimmune diseases. Scientists multiply these modified cells by the millions before returning them to the patient through an IV.

Dr. Lieberman realized the approach could work because B cells in autoimmune diseases look remarkably similar to B cells in certain cancers. Roswell Park's manufacturing facility, one of the largest in the United States, can process these cells in specialized sterile rooms.

Denise Herkey-Jarosch, diagnosed with MS at 24, has spent three decades balancing medications and lifestyle changes. "I still have permanent damage to different body parts that I have to still live with and manage," she says.

Early results are encouraging. Dr. Lieberman reports signals that some patients are seeing reversal of damage and restoration of function, even in the nervous system where repair is typically difficult.

The Ripple Effect

Dr. Lieberman is currently studying the treatment for lupus, lupus nephritis, systemic sclerosis, and MS. She plans to expand research to rheumatoid arthritis, myositis, Sjogren's disease, and some pediatric autoimmune diseases.

The work builds on bone marrow transplants already showing success for MS and systemic sclerosis. Collaborator Dr. Shernan Holtan, Chief of Blood and Marrow Transplant at Roswell Park, shares the vision of patients living medication-free.

"The long-term hope is that people don't need medications for the rest of their lives and could potentially be cured," Dr. Holtan says. For millions of Americans managing chronic autoimmune conditions, that one-word possibility is sparking hope: cure.