ALPHA
A new class of anti-inflammatory drugs based on blocking the key role of intermediate microfilaments in chronic inflammation including neuroinflammation.
The inflammatory diseases being targeted by this platform are:
- cancer
- neuroinflammatory diseases including dementia.
ALPHA drugs are designed to block the ability of intermediate microfilaments (mainly Types 3 and 4) to respond to inflammatory signals and drive the proliferative tissue changes that characterise chronic inflammation and neuroinflammation.
The pro-inflammatory functions of intermediate microfilaments means that they have important roles to play in:
Cancer
- creating the tumour micro-environment (TME)
- enabling cancer cells to spread around the body
- high vimentin levels are associated with lower survival prospects for lung, breast, prostate, pancreatic, colorectal and brain cancers
Autoimmune disease
- rheumatoid arthritis
- idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
- Crohn’s disease
- sarcoidosis
- lupus
Neurological disease
- dementias
- multiple sclerosis
- amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Viral infections
- enabling viruses (including SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses) to enter human cells and replicate.
Intermediate microfilaments are validated drug targets for many chronic inflammatory diseases including cancer but have been considered a largely undruggable target -structural proteins too essential for cell function and integrity to be inhibited.