CEL-SCI Corp. (CVM) reported results from a recently completed efficacy study in a second animal model of rheumatoid arthritis or RA using the LEAPS technology, demonstrating that LEAPS has the potential for use as a therapeutic vaccine to treat different types of RA, each of which possesses different disease characteristics. The trial was conducted in collaboration with Tibor Glant's research team at Rush University Medical Center.
The efficacy study evaluated the LEAPS vaccine's effect in the Proteoglycan induced arthritis or PGIA model of RA with a dominant T helper 1 or Th1 cytokine profile. The PGIA model, which is considered to be closely related to the human condition of many RA patients, exhibits rheumatoid factor and RA-specific antibodies not seen in other RA models. The LEAPS vaccines in this preliminary study included a disease epitope attached to a portion of another very small peptide immune cell binding ligand chosen to promote and direct the immune response away from a Th1 response.
RA, a chronic inflammatory disease that mainly targets the synovial membrane, cartilage and bone, affects nearly 1% of the global population and is associated with significant morbidity and increased mortality.
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