At the ongoing AAAAI meeting in San Antonio, researchers from Escient Pharmaceuticals Inc. presented preclinical data for the Mas-related G-protein coupled receptor X2 (MRGPRX2) antagonist EP-262, being evaluated as a novel therapeutic approach for mast cell-mediated diseases. In vitro, EP-262 acted as a potent and highly selective antagonist of MRGPRX2, which inhibited MRGPRX2 activation induced by a wide variety of agonists.

Therapies for multiple sclerosis (MS) have been effective in relapse prevention but emerging data still show the continued disability progression independent of relapse activity (PIRA), characterized by the presence of ectopic B-cell follicles and active lesions with microglia cells, resulting in a smoldering central nervous system (CNS)-driven inflammation, tissue damage and disease progression.

Current antiretroviral therapies preserve the immune system, reduce HIV-associated morbidity and prevent HIV transmission but still, the virus persistence in CD4 cells remains a crucial factor to battle. Previous studies have explored the role of interleukin-2-inducible tyrosine kinase (ITK) inhibition in lymphoma, allergy and other infectious diseases.

Nuclear body protein SP140 is mainly expressed on immune cells such as B and T cells, monocytes or dendritic cells and they are activated by interferon and regulated upon cellular stress, such as during viral infections.

Microglial cells (MGs) are resident immune cells in the brain, which play a key role in the acute response and chronic recovery to stroke. Investigators at the University of Texas Health Science Center Houston aimed to evaluate MG transcriptomic response to stroke in mouse brain.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is an inherited disorder where different mutations in cardiac myosin lead to hypercontractility of...

In the larger picture, the fight against HIV has been a triumph of modern medicine. A patient diagnosed with HIV in the 1980s had a remaining life expectancy of 1 to 2 years. In 2023, they can expect to live another half century. But so far, an HIV vaccine has remained elusive. In the newest phase III failure, Janssen Pharmaceutical Cos. of Johnson & Johnson closed down its Mosaico trial more than a year ahead of schedule, following a data and safety monitoring board’s (DSMB) report saying the study was not expected to hit its primary endpoint.

Researchers from the University of Antwerp reported the characterization of a novel clinically relevant mouse model of DFNA9 (deafness, autosomal dominant 9), an autosomal dominant inherited disorder characterized by vestibular dysfunction and adult-onset progressive hearing loss caused by different heterozygous mutations in the COCH gene.

The success of the treosulfan-based conditioning regimen in patients with β-thalassemia undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is limited due to several complications, such as mixed chimerism and graft rejection. Researchers previously found that polymorphisms in the NQO1 or glutathione S-transferase A1 (GSTA1) genes had an impact on treosulfan pharmacokinetics, which then impacted related toxicities after HCT.