Advantage and Core Benefit
- New therapeutic approach that directly targets immune cells involved in disease
- Expected to be applied to skin diseases with unknown pathogenesis, such as chronic urticaria, in which mast cells are thought to be involved.
- Potential as a new antibody drug for mastocytosis in humans and mast cell derived tumors, which are a major cause of skin cancer in dogs and cats
Background and Technology
Mast cells are distributed in various organs, including skin, lungs, and intestines, and are involved in the development of allergic diseases and host defense against infection. Overactivation of mast cells is known as one of the causes of allergic diseases, and therefore, inhibitors of the release of inflammatory molecules such as histamine from mast cells and antihistamines have been developed as antiallergic drugs. Although antibody drugs targeting mast cells themselves by targeting cell surface molecules such as c-Kit and Siglec-8 have been developed, they are not sufficient in terms of mast cell specificity. In addition, few molecules specifically expressed on tissue mast cells are known.
The inventors identified Clec12b as a molecule specifically expressed on mast cells in the skin and found that an antibody that specifically binds to Clec12b could be used to eliminate mast cells, showing that topically administered Clec12b could be effective in treating allergic diseases. In dogs, mastocytoma are said to have the highest incidence among skin cancers, and the application of mast cell specific Clec12b antibodies is expected.
Data
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- Established anti-mouse and anti-human Clec12b monoclonal antibodies had ADCC activity.
- Dermatitis scores were improved (Right) and numbers of mast cells were reduced (Left), when the anti-Clec12b antibodies were administered intradermally to a skin allergy model.
Patent
Patent Pending in JAPAN
Researcher
Dr. Akira Shibuya (University of Tsukuba)
Expectations
We are interested in partnering with companies developing immune cell targeted therapies using the Clec12b antibody. For example, we welcome collaborations with companies developing ADCs, in which the companies create ADCs based on antibodies provided by the University of Tsukuba and evaluate their functions at the university. We are also interested in collaborating with companies developing animal drugs to jointly develop Clec12b antibody therapies for canine and feline mast cell tumors.
Product No. WL-04208