CAR-T cell therapy, approved for some blood cancers, is being studied for lupus, MS, and scleroderma. Yale Medicine experts explain how it works, its risks, and who may qualify. Since 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved seven CAR-T therapies, all for blood cancers. None is yet approved for an autoimmune disease. ... Collecting cells: A patient’s T cells are collected through apheresis, an outpatient procedure that filters specific cells from the bloodstream. Engineering cells: In a lab, the T cells are genetically modified to recognize a specific target. It may sound like science fiction: removing a person’s immune cells, modifying them in a lab, and putting them back into the body to target the cells causing disease. But medical experts believe the approach, known as chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy, could someday help treat a growing list of hard-to-manage conditions. CAR-T cell therapy, a treatment that has transformed care for some people with leukemia and lymphoma, is now being studied in clinical trials for autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS), lupus, and scleroderma. Early results are encouraging, but the approach is still experimental. At Yale Cancer Center, specialists in hematology–oncology, rheumatology, and neurology are working together to study CAR-T therapy for MS, scleroderma, and lupus in clinical trials. The program began in August 2025, when the first patient with MS received CAR-T cells.

Original title: “CAR-T Cell Therapy Moves Beyond Cancer to Autoimmune Diseases | News | Yale Medicine”

A once futuristic-sounding cancer treatment that involves extracting a patient’s own immune cells, re-engineering them to recognize tumor targets, and returning them to the body is beginning to move beyond oncology. At Yale School of Medicine (YSM), physician-scientists are testing CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor-T cell) therapy in clinical trials for autoimmune diseases ... A once futuristic-sounding cancer treatment that involves extracting a patient’s own immune cells, re-engineering them to recognize tumor targets, and returning them to the body is beginning to move beyond oncology. At Yale School of Medicine (YSM), physician-scientists are testing CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor-T cell) therapy in clinical trials for autoimmune diseases including lupus, multiple sclerosis (MS), and scleroderma. Yale researchers are testing CAR-T therapy in clinical trials for autoimmune diseases including lupus, multiple sclerosis, and scleroderma. They're also working Teams from hematology-oncology, rheumatology, and neurology have come together to study CAR-T therapy for MS, scleroderma, and lupus in clinical trials. The program launched in August 2025 when the first patient with MS received CAR-T cells. Earlier this year, Yale clinicians performed the first CAR-T infusion for lupus in the state. ... Multiple sclerosis is an immune-mediated disease in which the body’s own immune cells mistakenly attack the brain and spinal cord, damaging the protective myelin that allows nerve cells to communicate. That limitation is central to the work of Yale’s Erin Longbrake, MD, PhD, associate professor of neurology and principal investigator of an early-phase clinical trial testing whether CAR-T therapy can eliminate disease-driving immune cells not only in the bloodstream, but throughout the body—including the brain.

Original title: “Enhancing CAR-T Therapy: From Cancer to Autoimmune Diseases | Yale School of Medicine”

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Original title: “Comment on: Prevalence, distribution and associations of the scleroderma capillaroscopic patterns: new insights from the Italian SPRING-SIR registry: Reply.”

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Original title: “Longitudinal Assessment of the Juvenile Systemic Sclerosis Severity Score: Application in the National Registry for Childhood Onset Scleroderma.”