Preclinical data reveals CAN10’s potential to target key proteins involved in systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
RT’s Three Key Takeaways:
- Preclinical Findings: New preclinical data indicates that the investigational antibody targets IL1RAP, a protein found at higher levels in patients with systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), suggesting potential for treating these severe fibrotic conditions.
- Targeting Fibrotic Pathology: The study shows that IL1RAP is expressed on several critical cell types involved in lung fibrosis, with increased numbers of IL1RAP-positive cells in diseased lungs compared to healthy ones.
- Presentation at Conference: The findings will be presented at the European Respiratory Society’s annual congress, highlighting the investigational antibody as a novel approach to addressing the unmet medical needs in fibrotic lung diseases.
Cantargia reported new preclinical data providing support for CAN10, an anti-IL1RAP monoclonal antibody, as a potential treatment for fibrotic lung diseases. The new data shows upregulation of the CAN10 target protein IL1RAP in lungs from patients with systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).
IL1RAP is expressed on several cell types important for fibrotic lung disease, and the number of IL1RAP positive cells were increased in fibrotic lungs compared to healthy.
The data will be presented at the European Respiratory Society’s annual congress, held from Sept 7 to 11.
“The new data highlights the potential of CAN10 in fibrotic lung diseases. There is a large medical need to treat this group of diseases, and we see a huge future opportunity in this field,” says Göran Forsberg, CEO of Cantargia, in a release.
Unmet Medical Need for SSc-ILD and IPF
SSc-ILD and IPF are irreversible fibrotic diseases with a very high unmet medical need. The new data from human lungs show that IL1RAP is expressed on several cell populations involved in lung fibrosis pathology, including epithelial cells, immune cells, and fibroblasts, the cell population largely responsible for the pathological deposition of the extracellular matrix proteins that builds up the fibrosis.
Moreover, the percentage of IL1RAP-positive cells was higher in lungs from patients with SSc-ILD and IPF compared to healthy lungs. Together, these data strengthen CAN10 as a novel strategy to counteract pathological signaling in patients with lung fibrosis.
The data was generated in collaboration with the group of professor Gunilla-Westergren Thorsson at Lund University and will be presented by Dr Linda Elowsson as a poster with an associated oral presentation.
CAN10 is one of two clinical projects in the Cantargia pipeline. The CAN10 antibody has been designed for the treatment of several autoimmune/inflammatory diseases. The ongoing phase I clinical trial initially investigates increasing levels of CAN10 as single dose administration in healthy subjects followed by studies of multiple dosing in participants with psoriasis. The primary endpoint relates to safety.
