Abstract
Multiple sclerosis represents the world’s most common cause of neurological disability in young people and is attributed to a loss of immune tolerance toward proteins of the myelin sheath. Typical treatment options for MS patients involve immunomodulatory drugs, which act non-specifically, resulting in global immunosuppression. The study discussed herein aims to demonstrate the efficacy of antigen-specific immunotherapies involving conjugation of disease causing auto-antigen, PLP139–151, and a potent immunosuppressant, dexamethasone. Antigen-drug conjugates (AgDCs) were formed using copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition chemistry with the inclusion of a hydrolyzable linker to maintain activity of released dexamethasone. Subcutaneous administration of this antigen-drug conjugate to SJL mice induced with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis protected the mice from symptom onset throughout the 25-day study, demonstrating enhanced efficacy in comparison to dexamethasone treatment. These results highlight the benefits of co-delivery of auto-antigens with immunosuppressant drugs as AgDCs for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.
Description
This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Molecular Pharmaceutics, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see doi.org/10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.9b00063.
Citation
Pickens, C. J., Christopher, M. A., Leon, M. A., Pressnall, M. M., Johnson, S. N., Thati, S., Sullivan, B. P., & Berkland, C. (2019). Antigen-Drug Conjugates as a Novel Therapeutic Class for the Treatment of Antigen-Specific Autoimmune Disorders. Molecular pharmaceutics, 16(6), 2452–2461. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.9b00063