A hopeful way for the development of a new T-cell therapy has opened in Padua, Italy
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects approximately 2.5 million people worldwide.
It manifests with the infiltration of autoreactive T cells into the central nervous system (CNS), damaging myelin and causing neurological deficits. Current therapies, unfortunately, are not very specific and can cause reduced immune system function with possible side effects.
A research team led by Professor Ildiko Szabo of the Department of Biology at the University of Padua, together with Professor Paolo Gallo and Dr. Marco Puthenparampil of the Department of Neurology at the University of Padua and Professor Erich Gulbins of the University of Essen, have discovered a new targeted therapeutic strategy. The research focuses on the mitochondrial channel Kv1.3, present in autoreactive T cells, proposing a more specific approach to treating the disease in preclinical models.
The study, published in the journal “EMBO Molecular Medicine“, showed that the mitochondrial Kv1.3 channel inhibitor (PAPTP), developed in the laboratory of Prof. Andrea Mattarei (also at the University of Padua), was able to selectively eliminate autoreactive T cells in the peripheral blood of patients with multiple sclerosis.
“We had previously seen that PAPTP was capable of killing tumor cells, but now we have shown that it can also eliminate autoreactive T cells in MS patients,”
states Prof. Szabo.
Researchers Beatrice Angi and Tatiana Varnita, the study’s first authors, explain that after the first clinical symptoms appeared, mice treated with PAPTP experienced a significant reduction in damage, such as neuronal demyelination. Blood tests confirmed that the treatment selectively eliminated autoreactive T cells, without damaging other immune cells and without causing immunosuppression or toxicity.
Conclusion
These results offer new perspectives for the development of targeted therapies in multiple sclerosis, with the aim of improving the quality of life and clinical outcomes for patients with the disease.
Professor Ildiko Szabo is Full Professor at the Department of Biology of the University of Padua, where she completed her PhD and post-doctoral research. Since 2012, she has been Member of the Editorial Board of Scientific Reports of NPG (now part of Springer Nature).