Longevity Biotech’s therapeutic pipeline is currently focused on changing the treatment paradigm of neurodegenerative diseases. Neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Amyotrophic Lateral Slerosis and Alzheimer’s disease are, in part, autoimmune conditions. Our approach to deliver meaningful disease modifying outcomes focuses on restoring immune balance to individuals whose immune systems are dysregulated.
Despite decades of research, the precise causes of neurodegenerative disease remain elusive. Even the most recent advances, which involve clearing plaques in the brain, only deliver a modest clinical benefit but can lead to unwanted side effects such as swelling and bleeding of the brain. Are these plaques the cause of the pathogenesis or the result of poor phagocytosis, debris clean-up by a dysfunctional immune system?
Individuals with these types of disorders have ‘good days’ and ‘bad days,’ and often their day-to-day symptoms are different from another patient with a similar diagnosis. Thus, while neurodegenerative diseases share a common etiology, it is likely that there are a variety of factors or ‘triggers’ that contribute to a given set of symptoms. By addressing global autoimmune components of these diseases, we aim to stop progression and improve overall quality of life for these patients.
How do we do this?
The adaptive immune system, specifically T cells, plays an important role in the development and pathological progression of neurodegenerative disorders. T cells are an essential part of the immune system, originating in the bone marrow and multiplying and differentiating in the thymus. Effector T cells (Teff) are a subset of T cells that respond to a stimulus, while regulatory T cells (Treg) are a subset of T cells that manage the immune response. These cells perform specific functions within the body, and how good these cells are at their ‘jobs’ matters more than simply counting how many cells a person has. In a balanced immune system, both Tregs and Teffs perform their jobs well and counterbalance each other. When a cell can no longer perform its ‘job’, it is deemed ‘exhausted’ and in need of a ‘reset’.
Given the critical role the immune system plays in neurodegeneration, and overall human health, it is imperative to evaluate how well an individual’s immune system is performing. Having underperforming T cells can be a sign of and/or cause of disease. Using a precision approach to evaluating the ‘status’ of the immune system, we aim to readily determine if an individual has a dysfunctional immune system.
Longevity Biotech’s growing pipeline includes products specifically designed to attenuate autoimmunity using an antigen agonistic approach.