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A biology teacher has been given a “gamechanger” therapy to treat multiple sclerosis (MS), to be the first patient In the UK to get the process.
Experts believe CAR T-cell treatments will “change” lives by stopping or slowing the progression of the disease. It is custom-built for each patient in the laboratory.
individual’s own T cellswhich are important for detecting infected or damaged people cellsThey are genetically engineered by scientists and fed back to the patient through an infusion to “re-set” the immune system.
CARs for MS modify T cells to recognize and kill T cells, which are known to cause damage and allow MS to progress.
Emily Henders, 37, from Bushey, Hertfordshire, received CAR T as part of a global program at University College London Hospital (UCLH) last week. clinical trials To know if it can cure MS.
The mother-of-two, who has sons aged six and four and is married to Brandon, told the PA news agency that she was feeling well after receiving the infusion in the three-minute procedure.
“I feel really great,” she said. “I feel normal and I have energy back. I don’t have any nausea, I don’t have any fever. I feel quite relaxed.”
Mrs Henders was diagnosed with MS in December 2021 after experiencing tingling in her hands. Her father has the disease and she knew what the symptoms might indicate.
“I think it was always in the back of my mind because I knew there was a genetic or hereditary component to it,” she said, “but it still came as a shock and was quite a tough pill to swallow. I was also diagnosed on Christmas Eve — that probably wasn’t the best day to get diagnosed.”
Since being diagnosed with MS, Mrs Henders has suffered four debilitating relapses, despite taking one of the most effective drugs for the disease.
“Physically, my symptoms have gradually gotten worse,” he said. “I notice that sometimes my foot hits the sidewalk in a strange way. No one else might notice it, but I feel it.
“Or when I’m teaching and doing a science experiment, I can feel that my hands are shaking, and I’m fully aware that the students can probably see that my hands are shaking.
“When I have a relapse, not being able to move my legs means I can’t get around the house, I can’t help the kids, I can’t drive, and then it impacts everyone around me as well.”
Mrs Henders will “never forget” her first major accident when an ambulance had to be called and her children had to be wheeled away.
“I was just getting out of bed and my oldest son was with me, and I couldn’t stand up, and it was so scary,” she said.
“The ambulance came, and I’ll never forget the looks on my children’s faces when the doctors came running in and then tying me to a chair and carrying me down the stairs and putting me in the back of the ambulance…
“Emotionally, I worry for them and how they’re dealing with it, and how they’re taking it. I worry that it could get to them. It’s very scary for the future, just not knowing what it’s going to bring or what the next iteration will bring.
“MS has also affected us in terms of growing our family. I would have loved to have a third child, and the main reason for not doing so is that I would have to go off medications, and we would have to weigh the risks of that against having a second child.
“We have two very healthy, beautiful boys and we have to think: is it worth the risk to give birth to another? It’s really difficult to accept, because I would really love to have a third.”
Mrs Henders said a good outcome of CAR T-cell therapy for her would be that she would “never experience a recurrence again”, although “obviously that would be the ideal treatment.”
She said: “When I have another attack, my legs don’t work, I can’t walk. It’s obviously very scary. Amazingly, every time I have another attack, I get that feeling back, but that fear is always there.
“So it would be fantastic to never wake up and experience that. MS can have a really gradual and slow decline, and the chances of ending up in a wheelchair are high with MS.
“Hopefully this treatment will prevent that. It will mean I’ll be able to chase after my kids, and I’ll still be able to work.
“I’m a science teacher, and I wouldn’t be able to be a science teacher in a wheelchair or even on crutches. It’s a huge risk to health and safety, so it would have a real impact on my job as well.”
According to Claire Roddy, UCLH consultant haematologist, CAR T-cells offer real hope for MS patients and have shown success in cancer and the autoimmune disease lupus.
“Our ultimate goal is to get rid of the disease long-term with a one-time CAR T-cell treatment,” he said, adding that this could mean people could get rid of all their other medications.
“We’re excited about it because we’re taking a treatment developed to treat cancer and repurposing it for entirely new conditions. CAR T-cells also go to places in the body that other drugs can’t reach very effectively.
“If you have multiple sclerosis, and the cells that are driving multiple sclerosis are sitting somewhere in your nervous system or around your nerves, it’s quite difficult for regular medications to get there, to knock them out.
“So CAR T-cells offer a really kind of solid potential solution here. The concept here is that we give this CAR T-cell therapy, it’s ‘one and done’ – bang, you’re in, you get the treatment, and that’s it.”
“And hopefully after that time frame you won’t need any more drugs. If we can achieve that in MS, it will change the lives of many people.”
Caitlin Astbury, senior research communications manager at the MS Society, said: “As the UK’s leading charity for people affected by MS, we have been following developments in CAR T-cell therapy with interest.
“It is wonderful to see the discovery of this new avenue of treatment. There are more than 150,000 people in the UK living with MS, but existing treatments do not work for everyone.
“It is still early days but, if the trial results prove successful, CAR T-cell therapy could be a gamechanger for treating this condition.”
Dr Wallace Brownlee, consultant neurologist and clinical lead of the multiple sclerosis service at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, as well as the trial’s principal investigator, told the PA news agency that current MS treatments require frequent tablets or injections or hospital visits.
He said the “real promise” of CAR T-cell therapy is that it could be given as a single treatment, freeing people from the need to take immunosuppressants in the future.
Dr Brownlee said: “CAR T-cell therapy is an exciting new frontier in the treatment of autoimmune conditions.” The trial aims to enroll 18 patients globally by early 2027.