Penn Medicine’s Colton Center Is Driving the Next Immunotherapy Revolution — This Time for Autoimmune Disease

Penn Medicine has long been at the forefront of immunotherapy for cancer — and now, powered in part by the Colton Center for Autoimmunity, it is setting its sights on applying that same precision to autoimmune disease. A feature published in Penn Medicine News in August 2023 surveys the ambitious research underway, outlining how a new generation of immune-targeting therapies could offer patients not just better management, but the possibility of a lasting cure.

Central to this vision is the concept of “Immune Health,” an approach developed under Colton Center director Dr. E. John Wherry that seeks to map each patient’s immune system as a guide to precision treatment. Rather than broadly suppressing immune function — the standard approach that leaves patients vulnerable to infection and malignancy — these emerging therapies aim to selectively silence only the misbehaving elements.

One of the most striking examples is the adaptation of CAR T cell therapy for autoimmune disease. Researchers including Dr. Vijay Bhoj and Dr. Christoph Ellebrecht have developed CAAR T — chimeric autoantibody receptor T cells — designed to seek and destroy only the specific B cells driving conditions like pemphigus vulgaris and myasthenia gravis, while leaving protective immune responses intact. Clinical trials are already underway through spinoff company Cabaletta Bio.

Separately, Dr. Neil Romberg’s discovery of two distinct subtypes of T follicular regulatory cells opens a potential path to even more targeted interventions — manipulating immune tolerance without broadly compromising the body’s defenses.