Tregitopes: What Did Nature Intend?
Hey everybody, it’s a good idea to pay attention to the forces of Nature, right? When we discovered that IgG (as in monoclonals) contained Treg epitopes (and named them “Tregitopes”) in 2008, we knew that this discovery was a big deal. But we’ve never really figured out WHY! Why do antibodies contain Treg epitopes? They must reduce inflammatory responses in the B cell follicle. And, according to recent studies performed by Brandon Dekosky and Mattias Guttierez at the University of Kansas with Andres Gutierrez and Bill Martin at EpiVax, we found that Treg epitopes diminish as … antibodies mature. All of which would allow for a more targeted and lasting immune response during an infection.
(Tregitope by design/engineer Phoebe De Groot)
And why should you care? The first part of the story is published in a preprint that can be accessed here. The rest, well, Andres better finish writing his paper!
Want do know more? I’ll be presenting on this topic at several upcoming AAPS conferences, including the National Biotechnology Conference in May and the PharmSci360 Annual Meeting in October. Does Nature know best? Or can we do better? What do you think? Let me know here.
Winning Vaccine Combos for Lasting Immunity
As I said on LinkedIn, providing SARS-CoV-2 booster shots will be critical for long-term immunity and protection from variants. Our vaccine team has been testing our EPV-CoV19 vaccine against the known SARS-COV-2 variants. Good news, the 227 highly conserved epitopes in our vaccine, identified using advanced immuno-informatics tools are highly conserved against variants. Given the situation with variants, and with unexpected side effects from the vaccines, we think that our T cell epitope-based vaccine would be a great “prime” for any COVID-vaccine boost. Most of us will need a boost vaccination, and fewer of us now want a vaccine that comes in an adenoviral vector, at least until the causality is uncovered.
AstraZeneca, and Janssen, give me a call 😊
JanusMatrix up for an Award!
Our JanusMatrix platform was nominated for a 2021 Vaccine Industry Excellence Award, in the category of Best New Vaccine Platform/Technology. Do you agree? You can vote here!
A Chance to Invest in EpiVax Therapeutics!
EpiVax Therapeutics (EVT) spun out of EpiVax to focus on our SARS-COV-2 vaccine and cancer vaccine program (ANCER). Last week EVT announced their convertible bond offering on RedCrow, a platform democratizing investment in the Life Sciences. This gives individuals access to an FCC managed investment vehicle without needing to be affiliated with an investment firm. Power to the people! Check it out and rate our offering here.
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