T-cell receptor peptide vaccine candidate restores FOXP3+ levels, Immune Response reports
Health & Medicine Week - May. 11, 2006
The Immune Response Corporation (IMNR) reported in trial results that its T-cell receptor peptide vaccine candidate NeuroVax induces increased FOXP3 expression resulting in re-establishment of normal levels of the FOXP3+ regulatory T-cells believed to be important in controlling development of multiple sclerosis (MS).
Results of the recently completed trial in MS patients were presented by Dennis Bourdette, Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) Department of Neurology chair, during an oral presentation at the 58th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in San Diego, California.
This 1-year open-label trial enrolled 25 patients who received monthly injections of NeuroVax. Seventeen of them were newly enrolled patients, and showed statistically lower baseline levels of FOXP3+ mRNA measured by RT-PCR (p=.03) and FOXP3 protein expression by Western blot (p=.02) when compared with healthy controls.
Following immunization of these MS patients with NeuroVax, 14/17 patients at 52 weeks demonstrated increased FOXP3+ mRNA expression over baseline (p=.01) and FOXP3 protein expression as a group was also statistically increased over baseline (p=.02). In a number of patients, FOXP3 message and protein expression became higher than those in healthy controls. These data indicate that a key portion of the strong immune responses induced in patients given NeuroVax include increases in expression of FOXP3, a marker which is associated with the activity of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T-cells. NeuroVax thus may be boosting an important immune regulatory network, which may be clinically beneficial for MS patients.
MS is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system mistakenly attacks normal tissues of the central nervous system. It afflicts approximately 400,000 people in the United States and more than 2.5 million worldwide, according to the National MS Society. The disease is caused by activation of a specific subset of the patient's own white blood cells, pathogenic T-cells, which then attack a fatty tissue called myelin that surrounds and protects nerve fibers and creates scarring (sclerosis) that interferes with the normal transmission of nerve impulses. This damage, in turn, leads to a variety of chronic and highly individual and unpredictable neurological symptoms, ranging from movement and balance problems to vision impairment.
The Immune Response Corporation (IMNR) is an immuno-pharmaceutical company developing products to treat autoimmune and infectious diseases.
http://www.therapeuticsdaily.com/news/article.cfm?contenttype=sentryarticle&contentvalue=889934&channelID=29#
The Immune Response Corporation (IMNR) reported in trial results that its T-cell receptor peptide vaccine candidate NeuroVax induces increased FOXP3 expression resulting in re-establishment of normal levels of the FOXP3+ regulatory T-cells believed to be important in controlling development of multiple sclerosis (MS).
Results of the recently completed trial in MS patients were presented by Dennis Bourdette, Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) Department of Neurology chair, during an oral presentation at the 58th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in San Diego, California.
This 1-year open-label trial enrolled 25 patients who received monthly injections of NeuroVax. Seventeen of them were newly enrolled patients, and showed statistically lower baseline levels of FOXP3+ mRNA measured by RT-PCR (p=.03) and FOXP3 protein expression by Western blot (p=.02) when compared with healthy controls.
Following immunization of these MS patients with NeuroVax, 14/17 patients at 52 weeks demonstrated increased FOXP3+ mRNA expression over baseline (p=.01) and FOXP3 protein expression as a group was also statistically increased over baseline (p=.02). In a number of patients, FOXP3 message and protein expression became higher than those in healthy controls. These data indicate that a key portion of the strong immune responses induced in patients given NeuroVax include increases in expression of FOXP3, a marker which is associated with the activity of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T-cells. NeuroVax thus may be boosting an important immune regulatory network, which may be clinically beneficial for MS patients.
MS is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system mistakenly attacks normal tissues of the central nervous system. It afflicts approximately 400,000 people in the United States and more than 2.5 million worldwide, according to the National MS Society. The disease is caused by activation of a specific subset of the patient's own white blood cells, pathogenic T-cells, which then attack a fatty tissue called myelin that surrounds and protects nerve fibers and creates scarring (sclerosis) that interferes with the normal transmission of nerve impulses. This damage, in turn, leads to a variety of chronic and highly individual and unpredictable neurological symptoms, ranging from movement and balance problems to vision impairment.
The Immune Response Corporation (IMNR) is an immuno-pharmaceutical company developing products to treat autoimmune and infectious diseases.
http://www.therapeuticsdaily.com/news/article.cfm?contenttype=sentryarticle&contentvalue=889934&channelID=29#
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