Headlines across France and Britain echo the latest alert from the WHO--the rise of pandemics and the risk of propagating transmissible diseases. While experts seek to address the best possible course of action to control the expansion such viruses, another disease category merits equal focus.
Autoimmune refers to the action whereby your body’s own defence mechanism fails to retain a balanced environment and then proceeds to attack your immune system. Instances of some AD have increased in some cases up to 9% per year.
LIH teams up with Tolerogenics
As the surge in autoimmune disease is imminent, the Luxembourg Institute of Health has entered the biotech field. Its department of infection and immunity is collaborating with the partly government funded start-up Tolerogenics to tackle this exact concern. Already FDA-approved for human testing, this treatment could provide a long-standing therapy for chronic allergies or those with other forms of AD.
Using ImmuneGel technology, Luxembourg-based Tolerogenics, along with LIH, have designed a subcutaneously-injected drug that then acts as a depot, ensuring a sustained release of the medication at an appropriate dose. The key agent in this drug delivery system is a biomaterial known as a thermosensitive gel. The results promise to induce immune tolerance in an individual suffering with AD.
So, how does it work? And what are the intricacies and mechanisms of action inside the cells in a nutshell?
Take an individual who suffers with chronic allergies, their immune system is in a state of disarray with a surplus of damaging cells known as effector T cells. Researchers in Luxembourg claim their treatment will attenuate this type of cell overload using their effective drug delivery system.
Post-injection active substances within this hydrogel diffuse steadily over time. These particles then activate the production of primed antigen-presenting cells designated to interact with yet another category of T cells so as to produce the all-important regulatory T cells. It is these particular T cells that will induce a balanced immune system by suppressing the harmful activity of the initial effector T cells.
Wide scope of treatment options
Currently the treatment for the populations of patients suffering with AD and severe allergies is the administration of immunomodulatory drugs. These patients adhere to lifelong drug administration as their illnesses are chronic and treatment is often not a cure but more a palliation of symptoms.
A further drawback of these medications is that they lead to a generalised state of immunosuppression, in other words aggravating the risk of severe infections.
The scope for treatment options offered by biotech companies is wide. Such cell-based therapies provide a platform to induce a state of long-lasting tolerance in patients and contend strongly as curative treatments. Given their low toxicity these treatments could promote a more tailored, safe and precise approach to the future of autoimmune disease management.
Dr Lilani Abeywickrama is a Luxembourgish ophthalmologist currently based in Milan. Her main interest is advocating healthy living and precision technology within her specialty and is pursuing her interests in the field of healthcare management.