Kemal Atlay NOVEL blood cancer immunother-

Schett , from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg .

including high rates of remission but no signs of neurotoxicity or high-grade

a patient with IIM , after 18 months ’ follow-up .

apies could induce an “ immunolog-

“ More patients need to be treated ,

cytokine-release syndrome .

While most side effects were

ical reset ” in patients with severe

but I think the initial signal is not

In their study , Professor Schett ’ s

mild , there was one case of grade

autoimmune disease , German rheu-

discouraging .”

team administered CD19-targeted

4 neutropenia , plus a case of pneu-

matologists report .

The study — presented at the Euro-

CAR T-cells to eight patients with

monia requiring hospitalisation

In a case series of 15 adults with

pean Alliance of Associations for

SLE , four with systemic sclerosis and

and antibiotic treatment .

treatment-refractory disease , they

Rheumatology 2024 Annual Meeting

three with idiopathic inflammatory

Still , Professor Schett ’ s team said

showed that chimeric antigen recep-

— is one of dozens investigating the

myositis ( IIM ).

the results not only demonstrated

tor ( CAR ) T-cell therapy led to drug-

safety and efficacy of CAR T-cell ther-

All participants ( median age 36 )

the viability of CAR T-cell therapy

free remission after an average of 15

apy for rheumatological conditions .

achieved remission , with complete

for the three autoimmune diseases

months ’ follow-up .

About 40 case series and trials ,

cessation of immunosuppressive

but also supported the so-called

“ It is a game changer ,” said lead researcher Professor Georg

involving around 100 patients globally , have shown promising early results ,

therapy , including glucocorticoids . Only one relapse was recorded , in

immunological reset hypothesis . Ann Rheum Dis 2024 ; 10 Jun .

Kemal Atlay ENDOMETRIOSIS is linked

to a fourfold higher risk of

ovarian cancer , suggests a US

population-based study of

nearly half a million women .

Researchers identified

an even higher cancer risk ,

almost 10-fold , in women

with more severe disease

subtypes , such as deep infiltrating

endometriosis and

ovarian endometriomas .

“[ These women ] may benefit

from counselling regarding

ovarian cancer risk … and

could be an important population

for targeted screening

and prevention studies ,” they

wrote in JAMA .

Using health records from

a statewide database , the

University of Utah – led team

looked at 79,000 women

with endometriosis ( a mean

age at diagnosis of 36 ) and

372,000 age-matched controls

, followed for an average

of 12 years post-diagnosis .

Those with endometriosis

were more likely to be nulliparous

and to have undergone

a hysterectomy compared

with the controls .

Overall , there were 225

ovarian cancer diagnoses in

the endometriosis group and

372 in the control group .

Women with endometriosis

were 7.5 times more likely

to develop type I ovarian cancer

, including mucinous , clear

cell , endometrioid and lowgrade

serous carcinomas .

The likelihood of type II ,

or high-grade serous , ovarian

cancer was also elevated with

endometriosis but to a lesser

extent ( 2.7-fold higher risk ).

Diagnoses of superficial

peritoneal endometriosis and

other forms of the disease were

associated with a nearly threefold

higher risk of malignancy .

While the exact mechanism

linking endometriosis

subtypes and ovarian cancer

histotypes was unclear , the

researchers said there was

evidence of an overlapping

genetic predisposition . JAMA 2024 ; 17 Jul .