Reports in Immunity and Journal of Clinical Investigation Implicate Key
Protein in Development of Disease Affecting More Than One Million Americans
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Biogen (Nasdaq: BGEN)
announced today new research that points to novel strategies for treatment of
inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), a family of relapsing and tissue-
destructive diseases that are associated with chronic inflammation of the
intestinal tract, by targeting the expression of a protein known as alpha1
integrin and confirms the key role that the innate arm of the immune system
plays in the development of these diseases. These discoveries also more
broadly point to new fertile areas of inflammatory disease research, which to
date has focused more on cells of the acquired versus the innate or "native"
immune system. The discoveries are reported in recent issues of the journal
Immunity and in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.
The studies were conducted by a team of Biogen scientists led by Antonin
de Fougerolles, Ph.D. and Victor Koteliansky, Ph.D., M.D., and were performed
in collaboration with Professor Neil Granger from Louisiana State University
and Professor Stefano Fiorucci from University of Perugia, Italy.
The two major types of IBD are Crohn's disease, which can affect any part
of the digestive tract, and ulcerative colitis, which affects only the colon.
There are more than one million cases of IBD in the United States alone, about
equally divided between ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.
The study authors investigated the role of alpha1 integrin in two
different mouse models of inflammatory bowel disease. The scientists found
that alpha1 integrin can be expressed on activated T-cells and monocytes
during disease, and also that lack of alpha1 integrin or its blockade with a
monoclonal antibody attenuated colitis. Monocytes and T-cells are white blood
cells that play an important role in the initiation and mediation of immune
and inflammatory responses. Development and alpha1-mediated inhibition of
disease could occur independently of cells of the acquired immune system, thus
pointing to the activated monocyte as a key alpha1-expressing cell type
involved in the development of IBD.
"In inflammatory bowel diseases, it is largely within the gut that
inflammatory responses are localized and perpetuated," said Antonin de
Fougerolles, Ph.D., Senior Scientist at Biogen. "This research demonstrates
that interaction of leukocyte-associated alpha1 integrin receptors with the
surrounding extracellular matrix plays a pivotal role in mediating intestinal
inflammation in part via promotion of T-cell and monocyte movement and
activation within the inflamed tissue. Novel therapeutic strategies, such as
inhibition of alpha1 function, which disrupt matrix/leukocyte interactions may
prove beneficial in treating intestinal inflammation."
"We are very pleased to have been able to collaborate on these studies
with outstanding academic investigators," said Dr. Koteliansky, Director of
Biological Research at Biogen. "Both studies serve to underscore the
important role that cells of the innate immune system, such as monocytes, play
in inflammatory disease. While much attention in inflammatory disease
research has been centered on cells of the acquired or 'specific' immune
system, we believe that the innate or 'native' immune system also plays a
significant role."
Unlike acquired immunity, innate immune responses require no prior
exposure to infectious microbes or other foreign substances and do not
discriminate among most foreign substances. When challenged, cells of the
innate immune system are active from the start. Efforts to try to modulate
this arm of the immune system hold great promise for the treatment of
inflammatory and autoimmune disease.
Affected gut tissue in inflammatory bowel disease is characterized by
dense infiltration of immune cell types (leukocytes), and therapeutic
strategies to interfere with adhesion molecules necessary for migration and
localization of leukocytes into tissues are under investigation. IBD accounts
for 700,000 physician visits and 100,000 hospitalizations per year.
About Biogen
Biogen, Inc., winner of the U.S. National Medal of Technology, is a
biotechnology company principally engaged in discovering and developing drugs
for human healthcare through genetic engineering. Headquartered in Cambridge,
MA, the Company's revenues are generated from U.S. and worldwide sales of
AVONEX(R) (Interferon beta-1a) for treatment of relapsing forms of multiple
sclerosis, and from the worldwide sales by licensees of a number of products,
including alpha interferon and hepatitis B vaccines and diagnostic products.
Biogen's research and development activities are focused on novel products to
treat inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, neurological diseases, cancer,
fibrosis and congestive heart failure. The Company maintains active clinical
research programs in protein therapeutics, small molecules, genomics and gene
therapy. For copies of press releases and additional information about the
Company, please consult Biogen's Homepage on the World Wide Web at
http://www.Biogen.com
Media Contacts:
Amy McKnight
Associate Director, Public Affairs
Biogen, Inc.
(617) 914-6524
Investment Community Contact:
Elizabeth Woo
Director, Investor Relations
Biogen, Inc.
(617) 679-2812
SOURCE Biogen, Inc.
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