Adverse Effects of Biological Therapies on the Nervous System

Most of the newly approved medicines are based on biotechnology. These include biological therapy, which is defined as a type of treatment that uses substances made from living organisms to treat disease. This chapter described the neurological complications of cell therapy, gene therapy, and vaccines. CAR-T cells can have neurotoxic effects and induce a cytokine release syndrome. Stem cell transplantation the brain may lead to tumor formation. Gene therapy can also have neurotoxicity. Adeno-associated viral vector-mediated gene therapy may induce inflammation in the brain. Neurologic adverse effects of vaccines used for infections affecting the nervous system are sometimes difficult to distinguish from the manifestations of the disease. The most significant neurologic complication of vaccination is acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, a syndrome characterized by rapid development of multifocal neurologic dysfunction.