BioCentury
ARTICLE | Distillery Therapeutics

Therapeutics: Interleukin-4 (IL-4; BSF1); IL-4 receptor (CD124; IL-4RA); interleukin-13 (IL-13)

June 18, 2015 7:00 AM UTC

In vitro and mouse studies suggest inhibiting IL-4 and IL-13 could help treat chronic pancreatitis. In pancreatic tissues from a mouse model of chronic pancreatitis or from patients with the disease, numbers of IL-4- and IL-13-activated macrophages were higher than in tissue from mouse models of acute pancreatitis or healthy human pancreatic tissue, respectively. In a mouse model of developing chronic pancreatitis, systemic knockout of IL-4, IL-13 or IL-4RA, or myeloid cell-specific knockout of IL-4RA increased pancreas size and decreased pancreatic fibrosis compared with normal expression of IL-4, IL-4RA or IL-13. In a mouse model of established chronic pancreatitis, a peptide inhibitor of IL-4 and IL-13 increased pancreas size and decreased fibrosis compared with an inactive peptide. Next steps could include testing small molecule inhibitors of IL-4 and IL-13 in the models.

Sanofi has SAR156597, a bispecific mAb against IL-4 and IL-13, in Phase II testing for pulmonary fibrosis...