New Hope For Vaccine To Fight Rheumatoid Arthritis, Other Autoimmune Diseases

[Guest guest]

Source: American Society For Technion - Israel Institute Of Technology

Date:

10/29/2002

New Hope For Vaccine To Fight Rheumatoid Arthritis, Other Autoimmune

Diseases

HAIFA, Israel and NEW YORK, N.Y., October 28, 2002 -- Promising animal test

results that could lead to a vaccine to fight rheumatoid arthritis, multiple

sclerosis (MS) and other autoimmune diseases were announced by researchers

at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. The vaccine reversed an

arthritic-like disease in rats by mobilizing part of the immune system to

protect joints under attack by other immune cells. The work was reported in

two related papers in the September Journal of Immunology.

Autoimmune diseases, in which the immune system attacks the body's own

tissues, are among the most widespread of serious chronic diseases. In

arthritis, immune cells attack the joints, while in MS, they attack the

myelin sheaths of nerve cells.

Current treatments involve either steroids, which fight inflammation caused

by the immune system attacks, or immuno-suppressant drugs, which depress

immune system function generally. Both these approaches create serious side

effects and can only slow, but not stop, the progress of the diseases. They

are also effective mostly at very early stages of each disease.

The new approach, in contrast, tries to rally one part of the immune system

to fight the part that is attacking the body's tissues. " We know that, in

autoimmune diseases, immune cells use chemical markers, called cytokines and

chemokines, to induce inflammation that destroys organs, " explains Dr.

Karin of the Technion's Department of Immunology and the research

team leader. " These proteins also attract white blood cells that, in the

case of arthritis, attack joint tissues, and in the case of MS, attack brain

components. Our method helps the immune system itself interfere with this

process. "

In untreated arthritis, part of the immune system detects one of the

chemical markers, called IP-10, recognizes that it is wrongly labeling the

body's own cells for attack, and destroys it. But while these naturally

produced antibodies can slow, they cannot stop the progression of these

diseases. In effect, there is a " civil war " within the immune system itself,

with one part attacking and the other part protecting the body's own cells.

The new approach seeks to help the " good " part of the immune system in its

fight with the " bad " or autoimmune part.

The researchers first identified that IP-10 is one of the specific proteins

responsible for the progression of these diseases, and more importantly that

the immune system tries to restrain the harmful activity of IP-10 by

producing auto-antibodies against it. They then generated a special vaccine

that amplifies the production of these beneficial antibodies. This vaccine

rapidly suppressed experimentally induced rheumatoid arthritis and MS.

Dr. Karin hopes that for rheumatoid arthritis this approach will replace

older treatments, which are extremely expensive and require many repeated

immunizations, and that it will also open new horizons for the therapy of

MS.

" We are hopeful that the gene-based vaccine will be much better, since only

a few vaccinations are needed to train the immune system to destroy IP-10,

and the rat results indicate that chronic relief may be possible, " says

Karin.

While the vaccine will interfere with IP-10 when the immune system uses it

to label actual invaders such as bacteria, Karin does not expect this will

cause serious side effects.

" There are some 50 chemicals that the immune system uses to label cells to

be attacked, " he points out. " Knocking out one will not seriously weaken the

immune system's response to infection or cancer. But in autoimmune diseases,

where one part of the immune system is fighting another, eliminating IP-10

will shift the balance, giving the edge to the part that is protecting the

body. "

The next step is to move towards clinical tests of the vaccine in humans.

Clinical tests are now planned for MS patients, and the group is negotiating

with an as yet unnamed major U.S. pharmaceutical company.

The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, known as " Israel's MIT, " is

Israel's leading scientific and technological center for applied research

and education. It commands a worldwide reputation for its pioneering work in

computer science, biotechnology, water-resource management, materials

engineering, aerospace and medicine. Based in New York City, the American

Technion Society (ATS) is the leading American organization supporting

higher education in Israel.