August 1, 2012
Achieving clinical tolerance in allergy, autoimmunity and solid organ transplantation is a daunting challenge due to the complex and multi-faceted nature of the immune system. Part of the ITN’s mission is to unravel the mechanisms of tolerance to better target future strategies for inducing tolerance, and to disseminate these findings. Towards these ends, the ITN hosted a Member Society Symposium at the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCiS) meeting that highlighted five of the ITN’s recent mechanistic and clinical achievements, and how this work fits in with the broader pursuit of tolerance in allergy, autoimmunity and transplantation.
Details of the following five achievements will be provided in a five-part Latest News series.
Anti-CD3, an antibody that binds the T cell receptor, has prevented C-peptide decline in type 1 diabetic subjects in five clinical trials. Kevan Herold, MD (Yale University) presented data from the ITN’s Phase II AbATE study that tested two doses of anti-CD3 given one year apart in new onset type 1 diabetics. A post-hoc analysis demonstrated that patients could be readily identified as responders and non-responders, with the responding patients showing a delayed decline in C-peptide and improvement in C-peptide responses compared to non-responders. The same analysis demonstrated that the “responders” could be distinguished from the “non-responders” by two independent variables, baseline HbAIc and baseline insulin usage. The AbATE trial showed a subgroup of treated patients that had a clear and lasting response to therapy and that these patients could potentially be identified prior to treatment.
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