Depleting EBV infected b-cells therapy

[frodo]

Depleting EBV with artificial T-cells works, even in progressive stage.

Epstein-Barr virus–specific T cell therapy for progressive multiple sclerosis

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6302936/

BACKGROUND. Increasing evidence indicates a role for EBV in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS). EBV-infected autoreactive B cells might accumulate in the CNS because of defective cytotoxic CD8+ T cell immunity. We sought to determine the feasibility and safety of treating progressive MS patients with autologous EBV-specific T cell therapy.

METHODS. An open-label phase I trial was designed to treat 5 patients with secondary progressive MS and 5 patients with primary progressive MS with 4 escalating doses of in vitro–expanded autologous EBV-specific T cells targeting EBV nuclear antigen 1, latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1), and LMP2A. Following adoptive immunotherapy, we monitored the patients for safety and clinical responses.

RESULTS. Of the 13 recruited participants, 10 received the full course of T cell therapy. There were no serious adverse events. Seven patients showed improvement, with 6 experiencing both symptomatic and objective neurological improvement, together with a reduction in fatigue, improved quality of life, and, in 3 patients, reduced intrathecal IgG production. All 6 patients receiving T cells with strong EBV reactivity showed clinical improvement, whereas only 1 of the 4 patients receiving T cells with weak EBV reactivity showed improvement (P = 0.033, Fisher’s exact test).

CONCLUSION. EBV-specific adoptive T cell therapy was well tolerated. Clinical improvement following treatment was associated with the potency of EBV-specific reactivity of the administered T cells. Further clinical trials are warranted to determine the efficacy of EBV-specific T cell therapy in MS.

[nevergup]

Hi, and thank you for the link! The therapy seems really promising! I read an article from 1998 referring to it as a treatment against cancer, so it appears to have been used for some time and there must be a plenty of specialists mastering it. This gives hopes because if further trials prove that it helps in ms, I think it might become an effective treatment quite rapidly. Since it's safe I would very much like to try it already. I wonder if someone on this forum have had this treatment? Did it work? Are there private clinics in USA or elsewhere that would offer this treatment?
Many thanks in advance for advice and comments!

[frodo]

I wonder if someone on this forum have had this treatment? Did it work? Are there private clinics in USA or elsewhere that would offer this treatment?
Many thanks in advance for advice and comments!

I don't think so, except if somebody around here was in the clinical trial. Maybe you can try to contact the researchers to get included in future trials.