SAN FRANCISCO, CA–(Marketwired – May 04, 2017) – With the impacts of Alzheimer’s disease on patients, doctors and the health care industry expected to burgeon over the next decade, ProMIS Neurosciences Inc. (TSX: PMN), has developed a preclinical program that targets the root cause of the disease, and also offers the potential to get in on an investment with a double bottom line, says Elliot Goldstein, CEO of ProMIS, in this interview with The Life Sciences Report.
Included in this article is: ProMIS Neurosciences Inc.
The Life Sciences Report: Dr. Goldstein, your company, ProMIS Neurosciences Inc., recently presented information on its preclinical development program addressing Alzheimer’s disease. Please describe that.
Elliot Goldstein: Our most recent news is a poster presentation, which was given April 28 at the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting in Boston. It’s an overview of the current status of our program, and focuses first on our unique proprietary technology, thermodynamic algorithms that run on supercomputers. Using this technology, we’ve been able to identify five distinct sites, called epitopes, on misfolded toxic forms of Amyloid beta, a known root cause of Alzheimer’s disease. An epitope is a target on a molecule, usually a protein, that antibodies can attach to and then neutralize.
The poster also focuses on the cause — the misfolded forms of Amyloid beta. Also called toxic oligomers or prion-like forms, these toxic forms do two things. They’re like gang members in the neighborhood. They’re directly toxic to neurons. When they’re in the vicinity of neurons, they kill them.
Not only are the oligomers toxic, they propagate, like viruses or prions, throughout the brain. This usually begins in the region of the brain called the hippocampus, where short-term memory is stored. That’s why the first signs of Alzheimer’s disease involve short-term memory loss. They then spread to the frontal lobes, where cognition, judgment and emotion reside.
We can follow the propagation of these misfolded toxic oligomers or prions. On average it’s about 17 years before any symptoms emerge, as these toxic forms of Amyloid beta slowly spread (propagate), destroying billions of neurons. And they propagate in a very simple manner. When they misfold, they lose energy, and become toxic, killing neurons. Any monomer, which is a single strand of normal Amyloid beta in the neighborhood, takes on the same misfolded, toxic shape. The toxic form acts like a template. So now you have two bad actors in your neighborhood; two toxic misfolded oligomers. And those two will then create four, and so on. . .
The poster points out that we’ve used our two proprietary thermodynamic algorithms to identify five unique targets (epitopes) on the misfolded toxic forms of Amyloid beta. The problem is that these forms are relatively unstable, so traditional pharmaceutical techniques cannot be used to identify sites to attack. To our knowledge, the ProMIS thermodynamic algorithms are the only way to identify these specific targets.
Using our algorithms, not only do we identify the amino acid sequence in the region of misfolding, we also identify the shape, or conformation, of the misfolding. That’s really important — not just the sequence of amino acids exposed, but also the shape of the exposed sequence. We take that misfolded sequence, or epitope, synthesize it, and then use it to immunize mice, thereby raising monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that are specifically and uniquely directed only against the amino acid sequence and shape of that sequence in the misfolded region. The final result is we now have antibodies that are specific and unique to the toxic misfolded forms of Amyloid beta.
We’ve also tested to make sure our antibodies don’t bind to Amyloid beta monomer or plaque. Indeed, results of prior large pharma trials indicate that products targeting monomer suffer from lack of efficacy, and those targeting plaque are associated with significant adverse effects.
Continue reading this article: The ProMIS of an Alzheimer’s Cure
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DISCLOSURE:
ProMIS Neurosciences is a sponsor of Streetwise Reports. Streetwise Reports does not accept stock in exchange for its services. Click here for important disclaimers. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. ProMIS Neurosciences Inc. had final approval of the content and is wholly responsible for the validity of the statements. Opinions expressed are the opinions of Elliott Goldstein and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers.
Elliott Goldstein: I was not paid by Streetwise Reports to participate in this interview. I had the opportunity to review the interview for accuracy as of the date of the interview and am responsible for the content of the interview. I or my family own shares of the following companies mentioned in this interview: ProMIS Neurosciences Inc.
Please see the end of the article for the complete disclosure: The ProMIS of an Alzheimer’s Cure
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