The loss of myelin in the cerebral cortex of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients could be recovered if oligodendrocytes, the cells that myelinate neuronal axons, work at a higher rate than they are destroyed. However, a group of scientists from the University of Munich have shown, in cortical MS mice, that this does not occur. The oligodendrocytes do not contribute to remyelination efficiently.
Antitumor immunotherapy has notched big wins, but in a small proportion of patients. And one possible explanation for why is that approved immunotherapies are not yet planting their flag on most of the battlefields where tumors and the immune system engage in combat. At the opening AACR 2023 plenary session, Ralph DeNardo celebrated the successes of the current, mostly T-cell-based approaches, but also encouraged his colleagues to think more broadly about the antitumor immunity.
With the backing of €2 million (US$2.17 million) in seed funding from venture capital company Adbio partners, French biotech Calida Therapeutics hopes that drawing on some U.S. academic research into thrombo-inflammatory disorders will enable it to develop a series of monoclonal antibodies.
Investigators from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have reported data on a series of 3 patients with perinatal-onset of neutrophilic cutaneous small vessel vasculitis and systemic inflammation, with 2 of them developing liver fibrosis in the first year of their lives.
Research at Japan Tobacco Inc. has led to the development of 6-aminopyrazolopyrimidine compounds acting as NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitors and reported to be useful for the treatment of arteriosclerosis, gout, inflammatory bowel disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
Necroptosis is a well-controlled process of programmed necrosis present in inflammatory disorders mainly regulated by RIPK1, RIPK3 and mixed-lineage kinase domain-like pseudokinase (MLKL).
Captor Therapeutics SA has offered an update on its lead programs CT-01, CT-02 and CT-05. In the CT-01 program, CPT-6281 is currently undergoing IND/CTA-enabling studies with the first clinical trial expected to start at the end of the year. The first indication will be in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Researchers from Atyr Pharma Inc. presented findings from the innovative tRNA synthetase platform, highlighting ATYR-0101, a potential therapeutic biologic based on a domain appended to aspartyl-tRNA synthetase (DARS).
Partially blocking a receptor that helps regulate the activity of the inflammatory cytokine molecule interleukin-6 (IL-6) seems to promote tissue regeneration and block degeneration in a model of osteoarthritis. As reported in the March 22, 2023, issue of Science Translational Medicine, the receptor, called glycoprotein 130 (gp130), regulates both positive and negative inflammatory responses that can help regenerate tissue, but also cause degeneration.