“It’s not lupus, it’s not lupus at all.” In the famous (and persistent) words of TV doctor Gregory House, lupus has been a recurring element of popular culture for the past 20 years. But sometimes lupus: especially 0.1%. The world population (especially young women) suffers from this mysterious disease today.

And until yesterday, we thought they would continue to suffer from it for the rest of their lives. Now a new hope has opened up.

What are we talking about when we talk about lupus? Lupus is an autoimmune disease; that is, a disease in which the immune system is “confused” and the body attacks itself. The direct consequence of this is that since we cannot do without the immune system (and there is no way to cure it), we are faced with a chronic disease that accompanies patients throughout their lives.

But that’s not the hallmark of lupus, no. It is a rare and difficult to diagnose disease. The reason is simple: Its symptoms are symptoms of many other diseases. It is true that there is a skin rash on the cheeks that is characteristic of the disease, but even then it does not always appear. Lupus appears and disappears, it is confused with other diseases, and we reach its diagnosis by almost ruling it out with the accumulation of symptoms in the differential diagnosis.

And this becomes a huge problem above all, because this is a complicated disease that can lead to huge complications: kidney, lung, circulatory problems… A long series of symptoms that we’ve been able to alleviate for years only with treatment. immunosuppressants; that is, pharmacologically ‘convincing’ the immune system to stop attacking the body. A relatively effective treatment, but also fraught with problems.

Until now. Yes, because Georg Schett and his team at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg have managed to use a therapy we’ve used so far to treat leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma and treat five people with this autoimmune disease. Called treatment, CAR-T involves taking blood from patients, genetically altering white blood cells, and revaccinating them into the body to do what we ask them to do.

In this case, the team used white blood cells designed to eliminate antibody-producing B cells by targeting the CD19 protein on their surface. They are convinced that this is key in the evolution of the disease. What they did not expect was to face these consequences.

17 months symptom free. In a disease as mysterious and treacherous as a symptomless and drugless disease, this is a magnificent result. During follow-up by the team, symptoms improved in all patients. In addition, all experienced remission of visceral involvement and disappearance of disease-associated autoantibodies. We’re talking about curing disease with a single application of the treatment: it’s an incredibly spectacular result.

And now this? The results are so good (and the technology has been so studied) that we’re talking about a treatment option within reach. However, we must be careful and continue to monitor these patients. 17 months is a short time in such a long illness. The good news is that the first major clinical trials are underway to determine safety, and hopefully the next few years will see a cure for this mysterious disease.