BioCentury
ARTICLE | Preclinical News

mAb blocks fibrin's inflammation without clotting interference to treat MS, Alzheimer's

October 15, 2018 9:19 PM UTC

Gladstone Institutes researchers developed a mAb that could help treat neurodegenerative and autoimmune CNS diseases such as multiple sclerosis or Alzheimer's disease by specifically blocking the proinflammatory effects of fibrin without compromising its clotting ability.

In a Nature Immunology paper, researchers developed a mAb called 5B8 against an epitope that blocks fibrin's activation of microglia and macrophages. The epitope is only exposed when fibrinogen is converted to fibrin in the brain. Blocking the cryptic epitope did not interfere with fibrin's other physiological functions including clotting...