Development of a new rheumatoid arthritis "nasal spray" therapy.
An exciting new gene therapy treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) that could be given to patients via a nasal spray or nose drops is being developed by scientists at King's College, London. The research, still in the laboratory stage, could lead to clinical trials on patients within three years.
A team led by immunologist Dr Linda Klavinskis, a senior lecturer in the department of Immunobiology, has carried out preliminary work using nose drops in a model system to deliver a modified gene coding for a naturally derived anti-inflammatory substance called Interleukin-10 (IL-10) for the treatment of RA, a joint condition that affects around 350,000 people in the UK.
Dr Klavinskis and her group have made the novel and exciting observations that IL-10 administered in this way acts by "switching off" the harmful, inflammatory process that causes RA, and “switching on” populations of cells that can re-educate, or hold in check, the harmful cells. Therapeutic delivery of IL-10 has been developed by international research groups to suppress inflammation in RA, but has been shown to cause side effects such as generalised immunosuppression when delivered by intravenous injection.
However, Dr Klavinskis is hopeful that administering the IL-10 gene via the nose will more effectively and efficiently target a population of cells that will hold in check the specific cells that cause disease, rather than affecting the whole immune system, so avoiding side effects. It could also be considerably cheaper than current immunotherapeutic drugs such as anti-TNF therapy.
The team at King's are working with US biotech company Vical Incorporated on developing the new drug, and have just been awarded a grant of more than £190,000 from the Arthritis Research Campaign to develop the research to the first phase of a clinical trial.
Dr Klavinskis, whose other research programme includes developing vaccines for HIV, is collaborating with Arthritis Research Campaign Professor of Rheumatology at King's College, Professor Gabriel Panayi and Drs Steven Thompson and Valerie Corrigall, in trying to harness similar gene delivery technology to successfully treat rheumatoid arthritis. This is an example of where arc is able to support research springing from collaboration between rheumatologists and scientists in a different basic science field.
"Every step we take we are thinking about patients, and we hope this research will lead to a clinical trial when it is completed in three years' time," explained Dr Klavinskis.
