Dion announced in December 2022 that she had been diagnosed with the syndrome, The Guardian reported, drawing wider attention to a disease that is otherwise little known.
The doctors framed the trial as a potentially significant step in the search for treatment, while making clear that much remains unknown about how widely the approach might work and for how long the gains might last.
The trial tested CAR-T cell therapy, which reprogrammes a patient’s own immune cells to help fight disease. During the study, patients’ T cells were extracted and engineered to wipe out the cells driving the condition.
The results, published in the medical journal JAMA Neurology, were described by the doctors as exciting and very encouraging. Patients were able to return to activities they had feared they would never resume.
Stiff person syndrome is a rare autoimmune condition that attacks the central nervous system. It can cause devastating rigidity throughout the body and painful muscle spasms, and effective treatments remain limited.
CAR-T therapy is already established in cancer care. Its use here is a novel application, aimed at an autoimmune attack on the nervous system rather than a tumour.