Posted on July 31, 2001 at 10:10 a.m.
BIRMINGHAM, AL — Researchers have developed a unique antibody that causes the death of harmful cells such as cancer cells and those active in autoimmune diseases such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. Details of the study, conducted by investigators at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and Sankyo Co., Ltd., in Tokyo, Japan, appear in the August 1 issue of Nature Medicine.
The immune system responds to stimuli, such as invading microscopic organisms, by activating certain immune responses. With autoimmune diseases, like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, these responses are turned on but not turned off adequately. As a result, the body’s immune system begins attacking and damaging its own healthy cells and tissues.
“The study suggests that if we can harness this antibody, known as TRA-8, which may be capable of turning off the immune system, we may have a more effective treatment for these diseases,” says Dr. Tong Zhou, assistant professor of medicine with UAB’s Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology and associate scientist in the UAB Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Center.
Currently, autoimmune diseases are treated with general broad-based therapies that, because of their inability to selectively target active immune cells, are often toxic to other healthy cells. “One advantage of this antibody is that it initiates the death of only those activated immune cells that are targeted without harming surrounding cells,” says Dr. Robert P. Kimberly, occupant of the Howard L. Holley Research Chair in Rheumatology and director of the UAB Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Center.
The antibody may also prove effective in treating other diseases, such as cancer. “In laboratory studies, the antibody also has been shown to induce the death of cancer tumor cells with no effect on normal cells,” say Zhou. “This is very promising.”
The next step is the development of a therapeutic agent that can be tested in human studies. “It is conceivable that clinical trials could be under way in nine months to a year,” says Kimberly.
Other researchers who collaborated on the study include Kimihisa Ichikawa, Ph.D., with Sankyo’s Biomedical Research Laboratories, and Dr. William J. Koopman, occupant of the Spencer Chair in Medical Science Leadership and director of the UAB/Sankyo Program for Rheumatic Diseases Research. This study was performed as part of the UAB/Sankyo Program.