Therini Bio Inc. has closed a US$36 million series A financing round that will support its work on developing fibrin-targeted therapies for diseases driven by chronic inflammation, including Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis and retinal diseases such as diabetic macular edema.
Mast cell-expressed membrane protein 1 (MCEMP1) is a type II transmembrane protein predominantly expressed in myeloid lineage immune cells, including lung-resident mast cells and alveolar macrophages. MCEMP1 is a critical factor in allergic and inflammatory lung diseases, with higher expression levels correlating with increased disease severity. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the role of MCEMP1 in the pathogenesis of lung inflammatory diseases remain unclear.
Albatroz Therapeutics Pte Ltd. has secured $3 million in seed funding to develop therapeutic antibodies against a new target that degrades the extracellular matrix, a key contributor to cancer and arthritis.
Viva Star Biosciences (Suzhou) Co. Ltd. has identified substituted sulfonylurea compounds acting as NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitors and reported to be useful for the treatment of cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome, multiple sclerosis, atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Lysyl oxidase homologue 2 (LOXL2) inhibitors have been reported in a Yuhan Corp. patent as potentially useful for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), chronic kidney disease and cirrhosis.
The loss of myelin in the cerebral cortex of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients could be recovered if oligodendrocytes, the cells that myelinate neuronal axons, work at a higher rate than they are destroyed. However, a group of scientists from the University of Munich have shown, in cortical MS mice, that this does not occur. The oligodendrocytes do not contribute to remyelination efficiently.
Antitumor immunotherapy has notched big wins, but in a small proportion of patients. And one possible explanation for why is that approved immunotherapies are not yet planting their flag on most of the battlefields where tumors and the immune system engage in combat. At the opening AACR 2023 plenary session, Ralph DeNardo celebrated the successes of the current, mostly T-cell-based approaches, but also encouraged his colleagues to think more broadly about the antitumor immunity.
With the backing of €2 million (US$2.17 million) in seed funding from venture capital company Adbio partners, French biotech Calida Therapeutics hopes that drawing on some U.S. academic research into thrombo-inflammatory disorders will enable it to develop a series of monoclonal antibodies.
Investigators from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have reported data on a series of 3 patients with perinatal-onset of neutrophilic cutaneous small vessel vasculitis and systemic inflammation, with 2 of them developing liver fibrosis in the first year of their lives.
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