Michael Lomonaco got the news after a bone marrow biopsy. His rare blood disorder was gone. For months, he had tried to keep up with his son’s Air Force workouts. Instead of getting stronger, he found himself gasping for air. Then came a diagnosis that once meant almost no hope: AL amyloidosis.
In recent years, PET/CT imaging with 124I-evuzamitide has demonstrated a sensitivity of 94% and specificity of 86% for detecting cardiac amyloidosis, reflecting advances in non-invasive diagnostics.
He finally got answers after a second opinion in early 2025. Doctors found AL amyloidosis. This rare blood disorder attacks organs. It was once seen as almost untreatable. The U.S. National Cancer Institute called AL amyloidosis "virtually untreatable" because it moves fast and few treatments worked.
Lomonaco tried six months of chemotherapy. Biomarkers dropped, but the disease did not go away. He ran out of standard options. Then he joined a clinical trial at Ohio State. He got CAR-T therapy. This experimental treatment reprograms a patient’s own immune cells to hunt and kill diseased plasma cells. In clinical studies, CAR-T therapy for AL amyloidosis is built to wipe out the plasma cells that make amyloidogenic light chains. In Lomonaco’s case, his biomarkers dropped to zero within a week. One month later, a bone marrow biopsy showed full remission.
While CAR-T therapies are being actively explored for AL amyloidosis, other targeted agents such as anselamimab have shown efficacy only in patients with kappa light chain amyloidosis, which accounts for about 20% of all AL amyloidosis cases.
Lomonaco’s case is more than a personal win. It shows how fast cell therapies are changing what doctors can treat. The facts are clear. For patients with few choices, clinical trials and new immunotherapies are working. These are not distant hopes. They are real. The field is moving fast. Stories like this are raising the bar for rare blood disease treatment.
