Binding of autoantibodies to autoantigens expressed on podocytes causes membranous nephropathy. New findings suggest that chimeric autoantibody receptor (CAAR) natural killer (NK) cells could be used to eliminate pathogenic autoantibody-producing cells in this disease.

The researchers conclude that CAAR NK and T cells can eliminate antibody-secreting target cells in an antigen-specific manner, demonstrating the feasibility of this strategy as a therapeutic approach. They suggest that use of their CAAR NK cell strategy might enable an off-the-shelf treatment with high specificity, low adverse effects and reduced long-term complications, patient burden and treatment costs compared to use of a more conventional autologous chimeric antigen receptor T cell approach.