Dhaka, Nov. 10 -- Neurologists in the United States have achieved a potentially significant medical breakthrough in treating stiff person syndrome (SPS), the rare and debilitating autoimmune condition affecting singer Celine Dion.

SPS attacks the central nervous system, causing severe body rigidity and painful muscle spasms, reports The Guardian.

In a novel trial conducted at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, researchers adapted CAR-T cell therapy -- an immunotherapy pioneered in cancer care -- by extracting patients' T cells and engineering them to target and destroy disease-causing cells.

The early clinical results, published in JAMA Neurology, showed dramatic functional improvements among trial participants who had previously required a...