ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT07681388RESET-PV-CARTUpdated Jul 2, 2026

CD19 CAR-T Therapy for Refractory Pemphigus Vulgaris

An interventional study of Autologous CD19 CAR-T cells in Pemphigus Vulgaris, sponsored by Jinbo Chen. Recruiting at 1 site in China. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 70 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-07-02.

Sponsored by Jinbo Chen · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 5 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Jan 2026, registered Jun 2026).
  • Started Jan 2026; still recruiting 9 months later.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
3
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years to 70 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This is an investigator-initiated, single-center, single-arm, open-label exploratory clinical study designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy of autologous CD19 CAR-T cell therapy in patients with refractory pemphigus vulgaris.

Read the detailed description

This is an investigator-initiated, open-label, single-center, single-arm exploratory interventional study designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, immune reconstitution, and preliminary clinical efficacy of autologous CD19 CAR-T cell therapy in adult patients with moderate-to-severe refractory pemphigus vulgaris.

Eligible participants are adults with refractory pemphigus vulgaris. After enrollment, participants will undergo leukapheresis for ex vivo manufacturing of autologous CD19 CAR-T cells. After product release, participants will receive lymphodepleting chemotherapy with fludarabine and cyclophosphamide within 2 to 7 days prior to CAR-T infusion.

Participants will receive a single intravenous infusion of autologous CD19 CAR-T cells at a protocol-defined dose (1 X 10\^6 CAR-positive T cells per kilogram of body weight). Premedication may be administered at investigator discretion. No comparator group is included.

Participants will be followed for up to 96 weeks after infusion. Safety assessments include monitoring for cytokine release syndrome, immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome, infections, cytopenias, organ toxicities, and other treatment-emergent adverse events.

Efficacy assessments include changes in PDAI score, disease control, Physician Global Assessment (PGA), Autoimmune Bullous Skin Disorder Intensity Score (ABSIS), relapse rate, time to relapse, and corticosteroid-sparing effects.

Translational assessments include peripheral CD19-positive B-cell depletion and reconstitution, B-cell subset dynamics, serum anti-desmoglein 1 and 3 antibody levels, and serum cytokine profiles. CAR-T pharmacokinetics will be evaluated through CAR transgene copy number and circulating CAR-positive T-cell detection, including expansion and persistence metrics.

02

Conditions studied

  • Pemphigus Vulgaris

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03

In context

Pemphigus

76 studies on the registry are indexed under Pemphigus; 18 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 3 is below the median of 30 across 53 interventional studies indexed under Pemphigus.

Browse Pemphigus studies →

Lead sponsor

This is the only study on the registry with Jinbo Chen as lead sponsor.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 70 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

Participants must meet all of the following criteria:

  1. Ability to provide written .
  2. Age 18 to 70 years at screening, male or female.
  3. Diagnosis of pemphigus vulgaris confirmed by clinical presentation, histopathology, direct immunofluorescence (DIF), and positive anti-desmoglein 3 and/or anti-desmoglein 1 antibodies.
  4. Moderate-to-severe disease activity defined as Pemphigus Disease Area Index (PDAI) ≥ 15 at screening.
  5. pemphigus vulgaris is defined as inadequate response, disease relapse, or treatment dependence following systemic and rituximab-based therapy for at least 6 months, with persistent disease activity meeting at least one of the following criteria:

    1. Ongoing active disease with the appearance of new erythema, blisters, or erosions;
    2. Persistently elevated anti-desmoglein 1 or anti-desmoglein 3 antibody titers > 100 U/mL;
    3. Inability to taper systemic corticosteroids to \< 20 mg/day prednisone equivalent (i.e., ≥ 4 tablets/day of standard prednisone dosing).
  6. Requirement for systemic therapy at screening due to active disease.
  7. Adequate vascular access for leukapheresis.
  8. greater than 6 months.
  9. Participants must have adequate organ function as defined below:

    1. Hematologic function: ≥ 1.0 × 10⁹/L, count ≥ 50 × 10⁹/L, ≥ 80 g/L.
    2. Renal function: ≥ 40 mL/min.
    3. Hepatic function: and AST ≤ 2.5 × ; total ≤ 1.5 × upper limit of normal.
    4. Cardiac function: (LVEF) ≥ 50% with no cardiac dysfunction.
    5. Pulmonary function: Dyspnea ≤ Grade 1 ( v5.0) and oxygen saturation (SpO₂) ≥ 92% on room air.
    6. Coagulation function: (INR) and activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) ≤ 1.5 × upper limit of normal, with no clinically significant coagulopathy.

9. No evidence of clinically significant active infection at baseline evaluation.

10. Reproductive Criteria: Women of must have a negative serum beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (β-hCG) test within 48 hours prior to initiation of lymphodepleting chemotherapy. Women of childbearing potential must agree to use effective during study participation and for at least 12 months after CAR-T infusion. Male participants must agree to use effective contraception and avoid sperm donation during study participation and for at least 12 months after infusion.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

Participants meeting any of the following criteria will be excluded:

  1. Active uncontrolled infection at screening, requiring systemic antimicrobial therapy. Participants with active tuberculosis, virus (HCV), (HIV), or syphilis infection will be excluded. Participants with surface antigen and/or hepatitis B core antibody positivity may be eligible only if HBV DNA is below the lower limit of quantification and appropriate antiviral prophylaxis is provided at the investigator's discretion.
  2. History of other active disease requiring systemic .
  3. Previous treatment with any gene-modified cellular therapy, including CAR-T or CAR-NK therapy.
  4. Prior allogeneic stem cell or solid organ transplantation.
  5. Severe or uncontrolled cardiovascular, pulmonary, hepatic, or renal disease that would increase risk associated with lymphodepleting chemotherapy or CAR-T cell infusion.
  6. Use of high-dose systemic (>1 mg/kg/day prednisone equivalent) within 7 days prior to leukapheresis.
  7. Use of rituximab or other B-cell-targeted biologics within protocol-defined .
  8. Use of intravenous immunoglobulin, plasma exchange, or other intensive immunomodulatory therapy within 2 weeks prior to leukapheresis.
  9. Received within 8 weeks prior to screening.
  10. History of within 5 years prior to enrollment, except adequately treated non-melanoma skin cancer or in situ carcinoma.
  11. Pregnancy or breastfeeding.
  12. Known to any component of lymphodepleting chemotherapy or CAR-T cell product.
  13. Any condition that, in the investigator's judgment, would compromise patient safety or study integrity.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(26)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Relapsed and refractory

Relapsed: the illness came back after treatment had worked. Refractory: it did not respond to treatment, or stopped responding while still on it.

Corticosteroids (steroids)

Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.

Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.

Life expectancy

The study doctor’s estimate of how long someone is likely to live. Criteria use it so that people can stay in the study long enough for it to answer its question.

Absolute neutrophil count (ANC)

The number of neutrophils, white blood cells that help fight infection, in a given amount of blood. Too few raises the risk of infection.

It is a count, not a percentage of the white cells. Limits are written in units that mean the same: ≥ 1.5 × 10⁹/L is ≥ 1,500 per mm³ (µL). Each lab has its own reference range.

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

Hemoglobin (Hb)

The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).

Creatinine clearance (CrCl)

How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

ULN (upper limit of normal)

The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.

“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

LVEF (left ventricular ejection fraction)

The share of blood the heart’s main pumping chamber (the left ventricle) pushes out with each beat, measured by an echocardiogram (heart ultrasound) or a MUGA scan. About 50–70% is normal.

Clinically significant

Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.

CTCAE grade

The US National Cancer Institute’s scale of how severe an adverse event is — any unwanted medical event during a study, such as a symptom, an illness or an abnormal test result, whether or not a treatment caused it. Whether it did is judged separately.

1
Mild.
2
Moderate.
3
Severe.
4
Life-threatening.
5
Death due to the event.

“Side effects of earlier treatment resolved to grade 1 or less” means they have settled to mild or gone.

INR, PT and aPTT (clotting tests)

Blood tests of how long blood takes to clot. The INR is the prothrombin time (PT) put on a common scale; about 1 is usual for someone not taking a blood thinner.

Criteria often make an exception for people on a blood thinner such as warfarin, whose INR is raised on purpose.

Childbearing potential

Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).

Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

Hepatitis C tests

Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.

After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

Hepatitis B tests

Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.

Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.

Autoimmune disease

A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.

Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.

Immunosuppression

A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.

Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.

Washout period

A planned gap after a treatment, so that its effects can lessen before the study treatment or a study assessment. Ask the study team and the doctor who prescribed it before changing any medicine.

Live vaccines

Vaccines made with a weakened form of the germ, such as measles–mumps–rubella (MMR), chickenpox and yellow fever. They can be risky when the immune system is weakened. Flu injections are not live; the nasal flu spray is.

Cancer (malignancy)

Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.

Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.

Hypersensitivity

An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
3 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    CD19 CAR-T Therapy for Refractory Pemphigus Vulgaris

    Participants with moderate-to-severe refractory pemphigus vulgaris will undergo leukapheresis for ex vivo manufacturing of autologous CD19 CAR-T cells. The CAR-T product is individually manufactured from each participant's own peripheral blood mononuclear cells and reinfused into the same participant; therefore, this is an autologous, patient-specific cellular therapy and not an allogeneic or off-the-shelf product. Following confirmation of product release, participants will receive protocol-defined lymphodepleting chemotherapy prior to CAR-T infusion, followed by a single intravenous infusion of autologous CD19 CAR-T cells. Participants will be monitored for safety, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, immune reconstitution, and preliminary clinical efficacy.

    Biological: Autologous CD19 CAR-T cells

Interventions

  • BiologicalAutologous CD19 CAR-T cells

    Autologous CD19 CAR-T cells are manufactured ex vivo using the participant's own T cells collected by leukapheresis. The CAR construct targets CD19-expressing B cells and consists of a single-chain variable fragment directed against CD19. Participants will receive lymphodepleting chemotherapy with fludarabine and cyclophosphamide prior to CAR-T cell infusion according to the protocol-defined schedule. Following completion of lymphodepletion, each participant will receive a single intravenous infusion of autologous CD19 CAR-T cells under inpatient monitoring. Premedication, including acetaminophen and diphenhydramine, may be administered prior to infusion at the investigator's discretion in accordance with institutional practice.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Incidence and Severity of Treatment-Emergent Adverse Events

    Treatment-emergent adverse events, serious adverse events, dose-limiting toxicities, cytokine release syndrome, immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome, infections, cytopenias, organ toxicities, infusion-related reactions, and clinically significant laboratory abnormalities will be assessed. Adverse events will be graded according to CTCAE v5.0, and immune effector cell-related toxicities will be assessed according to applicable consensus grading criteria.

    Time frame: From initiation of lymphodepleting chemotherapy through Day 90 after CAR-T cell infusion

  2. Change From Baseline in PDAI Score at Week 12

    The change from baseline in Pemphigus Disease Area Index (PDAI) score at Week 12 will be assessed to evaluate preliminary clinical efficacy of autologous CD19 CAR-T cell therapy in patients with refractory pemphigus vulgaris.

    Time frame: Baseline and Week 12

  3. Proportion of participants achieving disease control at Week 4 after CAR-T infusion

    Disease control is defined as cessation of new active cutaneous or mucosal lesions with established lesion healing or no further progression of existing lesions, as assessed by the investigator. This endpoint evaluates the early clinical response following CD19 CAR-T cell therapy and reflects initial disease stabilization after B-cell depletion.

    Time frame: Week 4

Secondary outcomes

  1. Change From Baseline in Pemphigus Disease Area Index (PDAI) Score Over Time (Range 0-263)

    Changes from baseline in Pemphigus Disease Area Index (PDAI) score will be assessed at scheduled follow-up visits to evaluate the durability of clinical response. The total PDAI score ranges from 0 to 263, with higher scores indicating more severe disease.

    Time frame: Baseline through Week 96 after CAR-T cell infusion

  2. Change From Baseline in Physician Global Assessment Score (PGA) (Range 0-10)

    Change from baseline in PGA score will be assessed at scheduled follow-up visits. PGA is a physician-rated global assessment of pemphigus disease severity, with higher scores indicating more severe disease activity.

    Time frame: Baseline through Week 96 after CAR-T cell infusion

  3. Change from Baseline in Autoimmune Bullous Skin Disorder Intensity Score (ABSIS) (Range 0-206)

    Change from baseline in ABSIS will be assessed at scheduled follow-up visits. ABSIS is used to evaluate autoimmune bullous disease activity, with higher scores indicating more severe disease activity.

    Time frame: Baseline through Week 96 after CAR-T cell infusion

  4. Proportion of participants achieving disease control at Week 12

    Disease control is defined as cessation of new active cutaneous or mucosal lesions with healing or stabilization of existing lesions, as assessed by the investigator. This endpoint evaluates the durability and consolidation of clinical response following CD19 CAR-T cell therapy in patients with refractory pemphigus vulgaris.

    Time frame: Week 12

  5. Change From Baseline in Anti-Desmoglein 1 and Anti-Desmoglein 3 Antibody Levels

    Serum anti-desmoglein 1 and anti-desmoglein 3 antibody levels will be measured to evaluate changes in pemphigus-related autoantibody responses after CD19 CAR-T cell therapy.

    Time frame: Baseline through Week 96 after CAR-T cell infusion

  6. Peripheral CD19-Positive B-Cell Depletion and Reconstitution

    Peripheral CD19-positive B-cell counts and B-cell subset dynamics will be assessed to evaluate the pharmacodynamic effect of CD19 CAR-T cell therapy, including B-cell depletion, time to B-cell aplasia, duration of B-cell depletion, and B-cell reconstitution.

    Time frame: Baseline through Week 96 after CAR-T cell infusion

  7. Number of Circulating CAR-Positive T Cells in Peripheral Blood

    The number of circulating CAR-positive T cells in peripheral blood will be measured by flow cytometry at scheduled time points after CAR-T cell infusion to assess in vivo CAR-T cell expansion.

    Time frame: From CAR-T cell infusion through Week 96

  8. CAR Transgene Copy Number in Peripheral Blood

    CAR transgene copy number in peripheral blood will be measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction or digital PCR at scheduled time points after CAR-T cell infusion to assess CAR-T cell expansion and persistence.

    Time frame: From CAR-T cell infusion through Week 96

  9. Duration of Detectable CAR-T Cells in Peripheral Blood

    The duration of detectable CAR-T cells in peripheral blood will be assessed based on the time from CAR-T cell infusion to the last time point at which CAR-positive T cells or CAR transgene copies remain detectable.

    Time frame: From CAR-T cell infusion through Week 96

  10. Change From Baseline in Serum Cytokine Levels

    Change from baseline in serum cytokine levels will be measured to characterize immune activation after CAR-T cell infusion and to support evaluation of cytokine release syndrome. Cytokines include interleukin-6 (IL-6), interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), interleukin-2 (IL-2), interleukin-10 (IL-10), and interleukin-17A (IL-17A).

    Time frame: Baseline through Week 96 after CAR-T cell infusion

  11. Change From Baseline in Lymphocyte Subset Counts

    Change from baseline in lymphocyte subset counts will be assessed at scheduled follow-up visits by flow cytometry to characterize immune reconstitution after CD19 CAR-T cell therapy. Lymphocyte subsets include CD3-positive T cells, CD4-positive T cells, CD8-positive T cells, CD19-positive B cells, and natural killer cells.

    Time frame: Baseline through Week 96 after CAR-T cell infusion

  12. Change From Baseline in B-Cell Subset Counts

    Change from baseline in B-cell subset counts will be assessed at scheduled follow-up visits by flow cytometry to characterize B-cell depletion and reconstitution after CD19 CAR-T cell therapy. B-cell subsets may include naïve B cells, non-switched memory B cells, switched memory B cells, and plasmablasts.

    Time frame: Baseline through Week 96 after CAR-T cell infusion

  13. Relapse Rate Through Week 96

    Relapse rate will be assessed as the proportion of participants who experience relapse after achieving disease control. Relapse is defined as the occurrence of three or more new lesions within one month that do not heal spontaneously within one week, or extension of established lesions.

    Time frame: From disease control through Week 96 after CAR-T cell infusion

  14. Time to First Relapse

    Time to first relapse will be assessed as the time from achievement of disease control to the first documented relapse.

    Time frame: From disease control through Week 96 after CAR-T cell infusion

  15. Change From Baseline in Daily Prednisone-Equivalent Corticosteroid Dose

    Change from baseline in daily systemic corticosteroid use will be assessed using prednisone-equivalent dose in milligrams per day at scheduled follow-up visits. A lower prednisone-equivalent daily dose indicates reduced corticosteroid requirement after CAR-T cell therapy.

    Time frame: Baseline through Week 96 after CAR-T cell infusion

  16. Incidence of Serious Adverse Events and Long-Term Safety Events

    Serious adverse events, infections, prolonged cytopenias, organ dysfunction, secondary malignancies, and other clinically significant long-term safety events will be recorded throughout the study follow-up period.

    Time frame: From informed consent through Week 96 after CAR-T cell infusion

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital of Wuhan, Wuhan, Hubei
    Wuhan, Hubei, China
    Recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jul 2, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07681388
Lead sponsor
Jinbo Chen
Responsible party
Jinbo Chen (Deputy Director of Dermatology, Principal Investigator, Clinical Professor, Wuhan Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital) — Sponsor-investigator
First posted
Jul 2, 2026
Start date
Jan 15, 2026
Primary completion
Dec 30, 2026 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 30, 2028 (estimated)
Last update
Jul 2, 2026

Study contacts

Jinbo Chen, MD, PhD
Contact
chen999jb@163.com
+86 188 2736 3048
Xiaoya Du
Contact
+86 27 8533 2028

Oversight

FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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