In an interdisciplinary Leopoldina Symposium on Monday, 8 April and Tuesday, 9 April, international experts will discuss current CAR-T cell therapy approaches for these and other, non-malignant diseases.
While chimeric antigen receptors (CAR-)T cells have to date primarily been used in anti-tumour treatments, they have the potential to be used more widely. For example, they have already been used to successfully treat previously incurable auto-immune diseases. At the symposium, renowned international scientists will discuss how CAR-T cell therapy can be transferred to non-malignant diseases. Lectures will be given by a range of scientists, including the virologist Professor Dr Ulrike Protzer from the Technical University of Munich/Germany, the physician Professor Dr Steven Deeks from the University of California in San Francisco/USA, and the geneticist Scott W. Lowe, PhD, from the Sloan Kettering Institute in New York/USA. Professor Dr Dimitrios Mougiakakos, Head of the Oncology Center at University Hospital Magdeburg/Germany, will talk about the auto-immune disease myasthenia. In 2023, Mougiakakos and his team succeeded in treating a myasthenia patient using CAR-T cell therapy for the first time. A patient who received CAR-T cell therapy will also participate in a panel discussion.
Leopoldina Member and immunologist Professor Dr Georg Schett and the haematologist Professor Dr Andreas Mackensen, both from the University Hospital Erlangen/Germany, are responsible for the scientific coordination of the event.
The interdisciplinary discussion is registered as an advanced training event with the Saxony-Anhalt Medical Association and is aimed at members of the public with a specialist interest. It will take place in English, is free of charge, and will also be streamed on the Leopoldina’s YouTube channel.