This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Transcript of Friday's NMSS webcast is attached. Ths one is with Dr Steinman and is about discovering better treatments. He mentions a DNA vaccine in trail and another trial of Altered Peptide Ligand (hope I've got the spelling right and that it wasn't the APL trial that was recently pulled). he also mentions FTY720.

On the down side he was asked why different sufferers have different responses to treatments. He said that it can depend on the the biological differences between people but also that MS may be more than one disease (I am paraphrasing).

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I think the week of webcasts has been useful (and hopefulish). I think credit must be given to the NMSS.

I wonder if the peptide he talked about is the Neurocrine treatment that just failed its phase II trial. It looks like this interview was recorded a couple of weeks ago...

Dignan,

I haven't seen the Phase II trial of the DNA vaccine before. Should you add it to the list (I assuming it's not there under another name)?

I'm not sure how long, on average, Phase II trials last but we must get some results this year on some of those on the list.

Ian

OK, I'll add it. I looked for news of a trial and found nothing. The closest I came was this:



Designer protein therapy for multiple sclerosis shows promise

Stanford Report, October 4, 2000 -- People with multiple sclerosis may find new hope in the clinical trial of an innovative treatment developed by Lawrence Steinman, MD, professor of neurology and neurological sciences, of pediatrics, and, by courtesy, of genetics. A phase II clinical trial of the treatment, the results of which are published in the October issue of Nature Medicine, revealed that certain dosages of a small designer protein can alter patients' immune cells so that they no longer attack patients' own nervous systems. Although the trial was halted because of allergic reactions in a minority of patients, Steinman said the reactions were much less significant than feared, and he plans to repeat the trial soon.

http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2 ... s-104.html



There are also numerous Pubmed references. This is the one I found most interesting...



Combination of gene delivery and DNA vaccination to protect from and reverse Th1 autoimmune disease via deviation to the Th2 pathway.

Immunity. 2001 Jul;15(1):15-22
Garren H, Ruiz PJ, Watkins TA, Fontoura P, Nguyen LT, Estline ER, Hirschberg DL, Steinman L.
Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Beckman Center for Molecular Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.

Using a combination of local gene delivery and tolerizing DNA vaccination, we demonstrate that codelivery of the interleukin-4 (IL-4) gene and a DNA vaccine encoding the self-peptide proteolipid protein 139-151 (PLP139-151) provides protective immunity against experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). We provide evidence for a mechanism whereby IL-4 expressed from the naked DNA is secreted and acts locally on autoreactive T cells via activation of STAT6 to shift their cytokine profile to T helper 2. We also show that DNA vaccines can be used to reverse established EAE by covaccination with the genes for myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein and IL-4. This treatment strategy combines the antigen-specific effects of DNA vaccination and the beneficial effects of local gene delivery.

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And last but not least, Dr Steinman appears to own the patent on the procedure:

Patents
- Immunotherapy of Autoimmune Disease, US Patent Number 4,695,459, issued 9/22/87.
- Polypeptide Pertussis Toxin Vaccine, US Patent Number 5,000,952, issued 3/19/91.
- Anti-T-Cell Receptor Determinants as Autoimmune Disease Treatment, Patent Serial 635202 (Australia),
3/18/93, European Application 89 401190.7-2116, allowed 3/27/95. Patent EP 0340109B1.
- T cell receptor variable transcripts as disease related markers. US patent 5,667,967, issued 9/16/97.
- Treatment of central nervous system inflammatory disease with matrix metalloprotease inhibitors.
US Patent 5,532,265, issued 7/2/96.
- DNA Vaccination for induction of suppressive T cell response. US patent 5,939,400, issued 8/17/99.

http://steinmanlab.stanford.edu/steinman_page.htm

Dignan,

You need another hobby!

I see that Neurocrine was a sponsor of the first trial you posted.

Steinman is credited as the creator of Tysabri so must be due some $s if it comes back.

Ian