Researchers Share Potential Breakthrough in Céline Dion's Disorder, Stiff-Person Syndrome

Desiree AnelloMon, June 1, 2026 at 6:50 PM UTC

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Celine Dion leaving the Elie Saab anniversary fashion show in November 2024
Credit: Best Image / BACKGRID -

Nearly four years after Céline Dion was diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome, researchers shared that they've found a “potential therapeutic that can be revolutionary for this disease”

While CAR T-cell therapy is normally used to treat cancer, researchers have tweaked the treatment to address stiff-person syndrome

“We saw improvements by 46% in patients,” said Dr. Amanda Piquet

Céline Dion has made a lasting impact on the community of people affected by stiff-person syndrome.

Nearly four years after the Queen of Power Ballads, 58, was diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome, her physician, Dr. Amanda Piquet, told Chicago outlet WGN9 that the $2 million in funding that the Céline Dion Foundation has funneled into critical research has led to the discovery of a “potential therapeutic that can be revolutionary for this disease.”

Stiff-person syndrome (SPS) is an autoimmune disease that causes severe muscle stiffness in the back, legs and sometimes other parts of the body, according to the Mayo Clinic. Some people also experience painful muscle spasms and unexplained falls while navigating the disease.

While CAR T-cell therapy is normally used to treat cancer, researchers have since been able to tweak the treatment to address SPS by using a patient's own T-cells to fight the autoimmune disease.

“When you get those T-cells back, those T-cells are seek and destroy, so they deeply deplete your misbehaving B-cells,” Piquet explained. “Once they do their job, your B-cells come back nice and healthy and basically reset the immune system, so you hopefully have a long-lasting, disease-free, therapy-free, in the end stiff-person syndrome.”

So far, many patients who are participating in the study have reportedly experienced major advancements in their health.

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“Sixteen weeks after the therapy, no walker, just walking down the hallway. We saw improvements by 46% in patients,” Piquet told the outlet. “So just incredible.”

Celine Dion attends the 'I Am: Celine Dion' New York screening in June 2024
Credit: Roy Rochlin/WireImage

“I'm not ready to use the ‘C' word yet,” she added. “Time will tell. We need to study these patients long-term to understand the durability, but this is a very promising therapy.”

Tara Zier, the founder and CEO of the Stiff Person Syndrome Research Foundation, said that she is optimistic about the latest discoveries, emphasizing that “people need hope.”

Since she has navigated the disease herself, Zier has seen firsthand just how impactful Dion has been in raising awareness around SPS.

“In 2017, I was so disabled, I couldn't work, I couldn't drive, I couldn't care for myself or my children and I was desperate for help,” she told WGN9. “Because no one knew about the disease. People were like, ‘What's wrong with you?' I'm like, ‘I have stiff-person syndrome.' And then people were like, ‘Oh yeah, you know my neck gets stiff sometimes,' and I'm like, ‘Oh no, there's a problem here with awareness.' ”

She added, “With Celine Dion, thank you, thank you, thank you for helping expedite that awareness by 50 years.”

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”