La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company has completed laboratory testing and development of a molecule designed to help prevent hyperacute rejection in xenotransplantation.
The xenotransplantation tolerogen "is designed to inactivate specific immune system B cells that produce ... destructive antibodies without affecting the protective functions of the patient's immune system," the company reported. In laboratory studies, the new molecule inhibited the binding of human and primate pathogenic antibodies more potently than a first-generation version of the molecule. The next step is synthesizing the tolerogen for testing in primates.
The molecule is based on the company's lupus tolerogen, which is in a phase II/III clinical trial and is designed to reduce the levels of antibodies to double-stranded DNA that are believed to promote lupus kidney disease.
The company noted that because "tolerance or specific inactivation of pathogenic B cells is a new technology that has not been proven," the development of a xenotransplantation tolerogen involves "many risks and uncertainties."
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