Overview
- Published reports on June 3–4, 2026 describe three highly HLA‑sensitized patients who received kidney transplants after CAR‑T treatment at independent centers in the U.S. and Germany.
- Two patients in a Penn‑led Phase I safety run received dual CAR‑T infusions targeting CD19 and BCMA and then underwent transplantation after antibody levels fell.
- A separate Charité report described a fully human anti‑CD19 CAR‑T (KYV‑101) that converted three living donors to compatible status and showed CAR‑T cells persisting at 15 months.
- The therapy works by depleting memory B cells and antibody‑secreting plasma cells to lower calculated panel‑reactive antibody (cPRA), a score that measures how many donor kidneys a patient would likely reject.
- Investigators report good early tolerability with no severe cytokine‑release syndrome or obvious antibody rebound so far, but CTOT‑46 is ongoing and larger, longer studies are needed to assess durability, infection risk, cost, and real‑world access for thousands of highly sensitized patients.