Speaker: Dr. Cristina Solé Marce, Main researcher, Rheumatology (VHIR)

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease with a wide range of manifestations and organ involvement. Lupus nephritis (LN) occurs in 40-75% of SLE patients and is associated with an unpredictable course. Despite conventional therapy, LN is still one of the main causes of short- and long-term morbidity and mortality, with up to 30% of patients progressing to chronic renal failure. There is a need to find new, more effective, selective and targeted treatments. In this sense, the new chemical antigen receptor (CAR) technology that depletes B cells has proven to be a good possible alternative and the first clinical trials have already begun. In our group, we have studied a variant of this technology, the chimeric autoantigen receptor T-receptor therapy (CAAR-T) that selectively depletes anticoagulant B cells using the NZBWF1/J spontaneous lupus murine model. At the same time, we are also interested in the use of nanotechnology to encapsulate immunosuppressive drugs and selectively target them to the rontium. In this seminar, the results of these two research projects will be presented.

Host: eCORE AVANT (VHIR)