• A study published in Nature Immunology by researchers at the State Key Laboratory of Molecular Oncology at Tsinghua University, Beijing, looked at Interleukin-5 (IL-5) as a target for asthma interventions. 

• Type 2 Asthma is driven by IL-5-driven eosinophilia, while IL-4 and IL-13 cause airway remodeling and inflammation.

• Using IL-5 as the targeting domain, long-lived chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells were created, called functional IL-5 CAR T cells (5TIF). 

• These cells were modified to release an IL-4 and IL-13 signaling called 5TIF4 cells.

• A trial in fully immunocompetent mice without any conditioning regimen showed sustained inflammation repression and symptom alleviation.

• As asthma is highly prevalent and dangerous, with 300 million people affected and 250,000 people killed annually, this single dose of CAR T cells leading to long-term remission of asthma can be a major tool in reducing the disease burden.

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