IMMUNOLOGY2026™ Conference Recordings For Attendees-CAR-T Cell Therapy for Autoimmunity I

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The speaker reviews CAR T-cell therapy as a promising but still early approach for autoimmune diseases, especially those driven by autoreactive B cells. Because autoimmune diseases are highly diverse, one treatment will not fit all patients or conditions. The talk explains B-cell biology, including how autoreactive B cells arise, mature, become plasma cells, and produce harmful autoantibodies. Key challenges include choosing the right target antigen (CD20, CD19, BCMA, or even autoantigen-specific approaches), deciding between autologous or allogeneic cells, and optimizing conditioning regimens and delivery methods. CAR T cells may work better than anti-CD20 antibodies because they can more completely deplete B cells in lymphoid tissues and possibly affect autoreactive T cells too. Safety, relapse, long-term immune reconstitution, and preservation of protective antibody responses remain major open questions. The speaker concludes that CAR T therapy is exciting and potentially transformative, but much remains to be learned.

Meta Tag

Date April 16, 2026 1:20 PM - 1:35 PM

Room 151

Session Accelerating CAR-based Approaches for Autoimmunity and Cancer, Sponsored by the Society For Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC)

Speaker Betty Diamond

Track Tumor Immunology: Checkpoints, Prevention, And Treatment (TIPT)

Year 2026

Keywords

CAR T-cell therapy

autoimmune diseases

autoreactive B cells

B-cell biology

CD19 CD20 BCMA targets

autoantibodies

April 16, 2026 1:20 PM - 1:35 PM

151

Accelerating CAR-based Approaches for Autoimmunity and Cancer, Sponsored by the Society For Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC)

Betty Diamond

Tumor Immunology: Checkpoints, Prevention, And Treatment (TIPT)

2026