Thank you for answering that in the context of a practical example. I had assumed x507 gummed up cross signaling between T-cells by competitive binding. Didn't know it induced apoptosis, but then maybe that is not it's immediate effect.
I asked conceptually because I'm wondering whether this company has a novel antibody technology platform to produce agonists or what:
"XXXXXX announced today the results of a preclinical study of a new class of therapeutic antibodies that accelerated the return to normal platelet levels in an animal model of bone marrow toxicity commonly found in cancer patients. Antibodies in this new class function as agonists that stimulate their cell target, rather than blocking it, and were created using a rational design and selection process utilizing proprietary technology developed at XXXXXXX.
``This new class of rationally-designed agonist antibodies represents one component of the product candidate pipeline resulting from our ongoing antibody discovery and development initiative directed towards cancer,'' stated XXXX's President. ``The broad utility of the proprietary technology used here should allow us to develop additional therapeutic candidates in oncology and other disease areas.'' _________ presented her findings today at Cambridge Healthtech Institute's Conference on Recombinant Therapeutics: Antibodies and Biomolecules, in Baltimore, Maryland.
This new class of agonist antibody is designed to selectively bind to the c-Mpl receptor on the surface of platelet precursors and then to stimulate platelet-specific proliferation and differentiation both in vitro and in vivo. As presented at the meeting, in preclinical studies, platelet counts were increased 60% in agonist antibody-treated animals as compared to baseline (P<.0001). The lead candidate agonist antibody has been designed to bind to and stimulate the c-Mpl receptor with the same strength as the body's own natural platelet hormone, thrombopoietin. However, this new class of antibodies lack any protein sequences related to native thrombopoietin. This may provide additional therapeutic benefit by potentially eliminating the harmful immune responses that have been observed against native thrombopoietin following the administration of human thrombopoietin. Promotion of platelet formation by an agonist antibody may provide a significant additional therapeutic advantage relative to existing therapies that result in significant and commonly observed cytokine-related adverse effects.
"......Importantly, we expect to further exploit the potential application of our platform of agonist antibodies which may be directed at a variety of other important unmet medical needs."
Wilder |
