Vinmec Smart City Hospital has just applied CAR-T immune cell therapy to treat a 28-year-old female patient with systemic lupus erythematosus accompanied by severe kidney damage. Initial results show that the patient responded well, opening up new prospects in the treatment of uncontrollable autoimmune diseases.
Systemic lupus erythematosus is a chronic autoimmune disease that occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissues of the body, causing damage to many organs such as skin, joints, kidneys, heart and brain.
The patient was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus accompanied by glomerulonephritis in 2023. Despite treatment with many drugs, the disease still progressed severely with systemic edema and impaired kidney function.
After being professionally evaluated, the patient participated in the clinical trial program to treat lupus with CAR-T therapy implemented by the Vinmec Stem Cell and Gene Technology Institute.
With this method, doctors take T lymphocytes from the patient's own body, edit genes to create CAR-T cells capable of identifying and eliminating disease-causing cells. After the chemical preparation phase, patients are transfused CAR-T cells in appropriate doses.
During post-transfusion monitoring, the patient developed some common reactions of CAR-T therapy but was effectively controlled thanks to the coordination of many specialties. After two weeks of treatment, the patient was discharged from the hospital in stable condition.
Initial evaluation results show that CAR-T cells proliferate well after infusion, while the population of cells related to the disease has decreased to undetectable levels. Currently, patients are continuing to be monitored periodically to assess long-term effectiveness.
Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thanh Liem - Director of the Institute of Stem Cell Research & Gene Technology Vinmec - said: Unlike traditional treatments that mainly control symptoms or suppress immunity, CAR-T therapy is expected to be able to re-establish the immune system, thereby solving the cause of the disease. This initial success marks a step forward in Vietnamese medicine in researching and applying advanced cell therapies for autoimmune diseases.
