A Candidate Antigen for the Initiation and Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks the myelin sheath. Previous research efforts have been focused on identifying target antigens in hopes of understanding the immune response and developing antigen-specific therapies to counteract multiple sclerosis. Unfortunately, challenges still remain in finding target-specific antigens to treat multiple sclerosis.

The Davis Lab has uncovered a peptide in patients with multiple sclerosis which reacts with both a common viral antigen (adenovirus) and a major myelin protein by using advanced recombinant DNA techniques. This peptide, and its equivalents, could be used for antigen-specific tolerance protocols in patients with multiple sclerosis. By leveraging this approach, the platform can be utilized as a screening platform to uncover causative antigens in other autoimmune diseases.

Stage of Development
Prototype