It is a privilege to be recognised as a recipient of the Preclinical Study Award by the Lupus Research Alliance. This funding will enable us to explore a new approach to CAR T cell therapy. Our research has the potential to make CAR T cell therapy more accessible, cost-effective and widely available.
Dr Reuben Benjamin, Haematologist and Clinical Senior Lecturer
27 March 2025
King's researchers awarded grant to advance lupus cell therapy
The funding will support the development of safe and accessible next generation engineered cell therapies for individuals with lupus.
Dr Reuben Benjamin and Dr Chris Wincup have been awarded funding from the Lupus Research Alliance (LRA) as Co-Investigators in the inaugural Targeted Research Programme on Engineered Cell Therapies for Lupus (TRP-ECT). This grant of $299,687 will support their work in developing a next-generation CAR T cell therapy.
The LRA established this programme to build upon the promise already shown by engineered cell therapies in treating and potentially curing lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease affecting millions worldwide.
Overcoming treatment barriers
CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy involves reengineering a patient’s own T cells to target and eliminate CD19+ B cells, which play a crucial role in the autoimmune response in lupus. Despite recent successes with this approach, several barriers limit its widespread use, including high costs, lengthy manufacturing times, and the need for patients to reduce certain medications prior to treatment.
Drs Benjamin and Wincup will test the effectiveness of a newly developed CAR T cell therapy. Their study will use a novel method that involves only a single blood draw and an optimised CAR design, aiming to make the process more streamlined, less expensive, and more accessible.
Dr John Maher at King’s developed a next-generation CAR system, named the parallel CD19-directed CAR T product (pCAR19), which more effectively targets disease-causing cells. Dr Benjamin and Dr Wincup will test the safety and efficacy of pCAR19 in cells from 25 people with active lupus.
Utilising the Cocoon® system, which can produce CAR T cells in as few as three days, they aim to overcome current manufacturing delays that limit timely treatment for severely ill patients. Additionally, they will investigate the impact of immunosuppressive and glucocorticoid therapy on the production of pCAR19 cells.
By demonstrating that potent and safe CAR T cells can be generated rapidly from a single blood draw without medication adjustments, the study could lay the foundation for an early-phase clinical trial.
CAR T Cell therapy represents an exciting new opportunity to potentially drastically improve the lives of patients with lupus and other autoimmune conditions. We know that a lot of work needs to be done to make this treatment more accessible and to allow for more widespread use in lupus and we are incredibly grateful to the Lupus Research Alliance for supporting this work!
Dr Chris Wincup, Consultant Rheumatologist
While CAR T cell therapy is a transformative treatment, its use is limited by several key barriers. The work of Dr Benjamin and Dr Wincup now represents a significant step forward in making this therapy a viable option for a broader population of people with lupus.
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Clinical Senior Lecturer