Project description:
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic autoimmune disease that leads to inflammation of the joints. Various immunosuppressive medications are approved for treatment, but a significant proportion of patients respond inadequately to established therapies. B cells play an important role in rheumatoid arthritis. In our study, we used T-cell engagers for the first time to treat refractory rheumatoid arthritis. T-cell engagers act as a bridge between T cells and B cells, leading to the elimination of B cells. Therapy with the T-cell engager blinatumomab was well tolerated, effectively reduced B cells in the blood and joints, and resulted in a significant reduction in joint inflammation. Thus, T-cell engagers could represent a new treatment option for patients with rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases.
Publication:
Laura Bucci, Melanie Hagen, Tobias Rothe, Maria Gabriella Raimondo, Filippo Fagni, Carlo Tur, Andreas Wirsching, Jochen Wacker, Artur Wilhelm, Jean-Philippe Auger, Milena Pachowsky, Markus Eckstein, Stefano Alivernini, Angelo Zoli, Gerhard Krönke, Stefan Uderhardt, Aline Bozec, Maria-Antonietta D’Agostino, Georg Schett & Ricardo Grieshaber-Bouyer. Nature Medicine 2024
Submitting the Paper of the Month:
Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung is using the series “Paper of the Month” to report in an exemplary and hot-off-the-press style on the outstanding work being done by the scientists it supports. We regularly present publications which have recently appeared in especially renowned journals, have emerged from foundation funding and been given appropriate acknowledgment. This is done in the respective categories “Original Paper” and “Review”. In the case of each of these publications, the first author and/or senior author are being funded by the foundation.
We invite all project managers, fellowship recipients and members of graduate study programs to send their work in accordance with the stated criteria as proposal for Paper of the Month to Ms. Anne Asschenfeldt (a.asschenfeldt@ekfs.de).
More Paper of the Month can be found here.
