Autoimmune Therapies
The current standard of care for autoimmune diseases is broad immunosuppression, which is associated with side effects and leaves patients vulnerable to serious infection and maligancies. Our approach to autoimmune disease is designed to restore natural self-tolerance by administering ImmTOR with nanoparticles-encapsulated self-antigens and avoid the need for chronic and systemic immune suppression.
ImmTOR gives rise to antigen-specific immune tolerance.
There is a significant need for antigen-specific therapies that can induce immune tolerance without the need for chronic and systemic immune suppression. ImmTOR is designed to restore natural self-tolerance by co-administration with nanoparticle-encapsulated autoantigens.
An ImmTOR-based approach to treating primary biliary cholangitis (PBC)
PBC is an autoimmune disorder in which the body mistakenly attacks the bile ducts leading to liver damage. To address this autoimmune disease, Selecta intends to coadminister ImmTOR with PDC-E2, the autoantigen implicated in PBC. The PDC-E2 antigen will be encapsulated in nanoparticles to minimize the systemic exposure of the antigen to a patient’s immune system. Patients with PBC are desperately in need of a targeted, liver-directed approach to treating the root cause of the disorder.
ImmTOR is ideally suited to address PBC
PBC is a T-cell liver disease driven by a well-defined antigen. ImmTOR has been shown in preclinical studies to induce a strong tolerogenic environment in the liver. Co-administration of ImmTOR with PDC-E2, the autoantigen implicated in PBC, has the potential to restore immune tolerance in the liver to directly address the precise cause of the disease. In addition, ImmTOR shows hepatoprotective properties in liver injury models demonstrating its unique ability to potentially treat liver-specific disorders like PBC.
Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) is a chronic, progressive liver disorder that leads to inflammation, damage and scarring of the small bile ducts.
In PBC, the immune system mistakenly attacks tissue in the liver, damaging the small bile ducts. Treatments to help slow the progression and prevent complications in PBC are available; however, these medications ultimately fail to control PBC, and patients require a liver transplant. ImmTOR’s ability to target the liver shown in animal models of liver injury and inflammation may be beneficial in the treatment of patients with PBC.