Immunity Rebooted: New Cell Therapy Reverses 20 Years of Incurable Disease

A groundbreaking "off-the-shelf" cell therapy has achieved a dramatic clinical remission in a patient suffering from a severe autoimmune disease for nearly two decades.
The therapy, QN-139b, uses dual-targeting CAR-NK cells to eliminate rogue immune cells and trigger a complete "immune reset."
This world-first achievement, published in Cell, heralds a new era for treating chronic conditions previously deemed untreatable.

For nearly 20 years, a 36-year-old woman fought a losing battle against systemic sclerosis, a relentless autoimmune disease that hardened her skin and ravaged her body. Conventional treatments failed. But now, a global breakthrough has rewritten her story and offers breathtaking new hope for millions.

In a landmark study, scientists from Qihan Biotech and Professor Huji Xu’s team at Shanghai Changzheng Hospital administered QN-139b, a revolutionary "off-the-shelf" cell therapy¹. Unlike personalized treatments, these universal cells are derived from a single, pure source and engineered for war. With nine separate genetic edits, the therapy features a dual-targeting system that hunts down and eliminates the two types of rogue immune cells—B cells and plasma cells—that fuel the disease³.

The results were nothing short of astonishing. After six months, the patient's body began to heal itself. Hardened skin softened dramatically, debilitating autoantibodies vanished, and tissue analysis confirmed the disease was in retreat, with signs of microvascular remodeling and regeneration¹. The therapy had not just suppressed her symptoms; it had triggered a full immune reset.

This success marks the first-ever use of iPSC-derived CAR-NK cells to conquer an autoimmune disease. With built-in safety switches and a design that enhances persistence, QN-139b represents a new paradigm in medicine—moving beyond chronic management to deliver a potential cure [5, 7]. For patients trapped by diseases without end, the future of medicine has arrived.

Immunity Rebooted: New Cell Therapy Reverses 20 Years of Incurable Disease

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