Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune and neurodegenerative disease in which lymphocytes at first attack the myelin sheaths within the central nervous system (CNS), accompanied or later followed by axonal damage. B cells play a central and multifunctional role in the immunopathogenesis of MS. B cells present antigen to T cells in stimulating a pro-inflammatory immune cascade, secrete pathogenic cytokines, moderate T cell and myeloid cell functions, form structural B cell meningeal follicles within the human central nervous system and produce pathogenic antibodies upon evolution to plasma cells.
CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells harness the ability of cytotoxic T cells to directly and specifically lyse target cells to effectively deplete B cells in the circulation and in lymphoid and potentially non-lymphoid tissues. KYV-101, a fully human anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapy, will be investigated in adult subjects with refractory primary and secondary progressive multiple sclerosis.
