AsianScientist (Jun. 17, 2015) – University of Queensland (UQ) researchers have developed a world-first vaccine-style therapeutic approach to treat rheumatoid arthritis, a debilitating disease in which the immune system attacks healthy tissues, particularly in the joints, causing inflammation, pain and deformity.
UQ Diamantina Institute lead researcher Professor Ranjeny Thomas said results from the Phase I clinical trial, published in Science Translational Medicine, demonstrate that the new treatment is safe and effective in suppressing the immune response.
Thomas said the treatment targeted the underlying cause of rheumatoid arthritis.
“Current therapies only treat the symptoms and slow the progression of the disease,” Thomas said.
“We have designed a vaccine-style treatment or ‘immunotherapy’ specifically for individuals carrying high-risk rheumatoid arthritis genes and specific rheumatoid arthritis antibodies, called anti-CCP. This type of rheumatoid arthritis is called ‘CCP-positive’ and accounts for the majority of cases.”
Elaborating on how the immune system works and the effects of the treatment, Thomas said:
“Our immune system is made up of specialized cells that move through blood and tissue, preventing disease and fighting infection by distinguishing between what is the body’s own healthy tissue and what is foreign.”
“This treatment teaches the patient’s immune system to ignore a naturally occurring peptide that is incorrectly identified as ‘foreign’, resulting in the production of CCP antibodies and causing inflammation.”
According to Thomas, a personalized immunotherapy was prepared for each patient by taking a sample of their blood and extracting a particular type of immune cell—dendritic cells.
“The patient’s dendritic cells were then challenged with the foreign peptide and an immune system modulator,” said Thomas. “The treated dendritic cells were then injected back into the patient.”
Thomas said a single injection of the patient’s own immune-modified dendritic cells was found to be safe and to help suppress the immune response in rheumatoid arthritis and in turn reduce inflammation.
However, she noted that more development is needed for the treatment.
“At this stage, the technique would not be ideal for widespread treatment or prevention of rheumatoid arthritis because it’s costly and time-consuming,” said Thomas.
“However, the promising results of this trial lay the foundations for the development of a more cost-effective, clinically-practical vaccine technology that could deliver similar outcomes for patients.”
Thomas is working on a delivery technology with Dendright Pty Ltd (a UniQuest start-up company) in collaboration with Janssen Biotech Inc., one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. If the delivery of this technology proves to be successful in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, it could also potentially be applied to other autoimmune diseases such as Type 1 diabetes.
The article can be found at: Benham et al. (2015) Citrullinated Peptide Dendritic Cell Immunotherapy In HLA Risk Genotype–positive Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients.
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Source: The University of Queensland.
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