Treatment of pemphigus beyond rituximab: chimeric autoantibody receptor T cell (CAAR-T cell) therapy

Abstract

Pemphigus vulgaris is a rare, life-threatening, autoimmune bullous disease. After decades of systemic corticosteroids and corticosteroid-sparing immunosuppressants being used to control the disease, the efficacy of rituximab has been shown in randomized controlled studies. Hence rituximab constitutes the first-line treatment for mild and moderate-to-severe pemphigus vulgaris according to the most recent European S2K guideline. Despite promising results with rituximab, there is still no disease-specific treatment available. In that regard, chimeric autoantibody receptor therapy (CAAR-T cell therapy) is under the spotlight utilizing a cutting-edge technology.