Four female patients and one male whose lupus had been untreatable were given an infusion of genetically-engineered immune cells called T-cells, which attacked another group of cells that do the damage in lupus patients, sending all five into remission.In the case of lupus, defective immune cells called B-cells produce autoantibodies which attack the patient’s own cells rather than hostile pathogens.In the trial, CAR T-cell therapy, which has been approved for a variety of cancers, was applied to instruct the genetics of the T-cells in the five lupus patients not to target cancer cells, but these defective autoantibody-producing B-cells.When the patients’ B-cells recovered after four months, they were no longer creating the autoantibodies, the Guardian reported.MORE CAR T-CELL STORIES: Doctors Say Cancer Patients Cured a Decade After Immune Cell Therapy at University of Pennsylvania“We are very excited about these results,” Friedrich-Alexander University rheumatologist and study lead Georg Schett told the Guardian."