Autoimmune disease

Patient sample and mouse studies suggest inhibiting MIF and DDT or their receptor CD74 could help treat progressive MS. In patients and healthy volunteers, genotyping identified associations between two polymorphisms in the MIF promoter region and progressive MS, but not relapsed-remitting MS (RRMS). In patients, high plasma levels of MIF in males were associated with disease severity and progressive MS, and high CD74 expression on peripheral blood monocytes (PBMCs) in females was associated with disease severity. In progressive MS patients, levels of CD74 on PBMCs in females were higher than in males. In the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) mouse model of MS, knockout of MIF or DDT decreased clinical disease scores, and DDT knockout delayed disease onset, compared with normal MIF and DDT expression in sex-matched mice. Next steps by Artielle ImmunoTherapeutics Inc. include clinical testing of RTL1000, a biologic inhibiting the interaction of CD74 with MIF and DDT, in progressive MS patients...