Wissenschaftler entwickelten eine CAR-T-Zell-Immuntherapie, die auf Plaques eines wichtigen Alzheimer-verursachenden Proteins namens Amyloid Beta im Gehirn abzielt. Bei Mäusen stellten sie fest, dass die manipulierten Zellen die schädlichen Amyloid-Plaques reduzierten und die allgemeine Gesundheit des Gehirngewebes verbesserten.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy, a type of immunotherapy that leverages the immune system to combat diseases, is a powerful treatment option for certain cancers. The treatment relies on genetically modified T cells — a type of immune cell — to destroy cancer cells.

Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) in Israel and their collaborators have applied a similar approach to treating neurodegeneration. They **engineered CAR-T cells to target plaques of a key Alzheimer’s-causing protein in the brain called amyloid beta, offering a promising approach to treating the condition. In mice, they found that the engineered cells reduced the harmful amyloid plaques and improved the overall health of the brain tissue**.

The study is published Feb. 9 in PNAS.

For those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2530977123