Apitope Treatment Approach Published in Nature Communications
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Apitope announced today that Bristol University research led by Apitope Founder and CSO, Prof David Wraith, on its treatment approach to autoimmune diseases, such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS), has been published in Nature Communications.
The researchers at the University of Bristol reported an important breakthrough in the fight against debilitating autoimmune diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis. Rather than the body’s immune system destroying its own tissue by mistake, researchers have discovered how cells convert from being aggressive to actually protecting against disease. It’s hoped this latest insight will lead to the widespread use of antigen-specific immunotherapy as a treatment for many autoimmune disorders, including Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Factor VIII intolerance in haemophiliacs, Graves’ disease (hyperthyroidism) and uveitis, conditions for which Apitope is developing important new therapies.
Commenting on the research, Dr. Keith Martin, CEO said: “Multiple Sclerosis affects around 100,000 people in the UK and 2.5 million people worldwide. This is an important breakthrough in our fight against debilitating autoimmune diseases by providing further important information on how to stop cells attacking healthy body tissue. This research further reinforces Apitope’s treatment approach, which has already successfully completed two clinical trials in MS patients with MRI data showing a significant decrease in new lesions, and has the potential to improve the lives of millions of people worldwide. Importantly, we are now taking this approach into other serious autoimmune conditions as well as MS.”
The reported study, funded by the Wellcome Trust, is published in Nature Communications. The article entitled “Sequential transcriptional changes dictate safe and effective antigen-specific immunotherapy” that describes how researchers have managed to “switch off” autoimmune disease as a breakthrough for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) treatment, can be viewed here: http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140903/ncomms5741/full/
