Immunotherapy Using Immunogenic Mimotopes Selected by Phage Display plus Amphotericin B Inducing a Therapeutic Response in Mice Infected with Leishmania amazonensis.

Leishmania amazonensis can cause cutaneous and visceral clinical manifestations of leishmaniasis in infected hosts. Once the treatment against disease is toxic, presents high cost, and/or there is the emergence of parasite-resistant strains, alternative means through which to control the disease must be developed. In this context, immunotherapeutics combining known drugs with immunogens could be applied to control infections and allow hosts to recover from the disease. In this study, immunotherapeutics protocols associating mimotopes selected by phage display and amphotericin B (AmpB) were evaluated in L. amazonensis-infected mice. Immunogens, A4 and A8 phages, were administered alone or associated with AmpB. Other animals received saline, AmpB, a wild-type phage (WTP), or WTP/AmpB as controls. Evaluations performed one and thirty days after the application of immunotherapeutics showed that the A4/AmpB and A8/AmpB combinations induced the most polarized Th1-type immune responses, which reflected in significant reductions in the lesion's average diameter and in the parasite load in the infected tissue and distinct organs of the animals. In addition, the combination also reduced the drug toxicity, as compared to values found using it alone. In this context, preliminary data presented here suggest the potential to associate A4 and A8 phages with AmpB to be applied in future studies for treatment against leishmaniasis.

Contemporary dose-escalation methods for early phase studies in the immunotherapeutics era.

Phase 1 dose-escalation trials are crucial to drug development by providing a framework to assess the toxicity of novel agents in a stepwise and monitored fashion. Despite widely adopted, rule-based dose-escalation methods (such as 3 + 3) are limited in finding the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and tend to treat a significant number of patients at subtherapeutic doses. Newer methods of dose escalation, such as model-based and model-assisted designs, have emerged and are more accurate in finding MTD. However, these designs have not yet been broadly embraced by investigators. In this review, we summarise the advantages and disadvantages of contemporary dose-escalation methods, with emphasis on model-assisted designs, including time-to-event designs and hybrid methods involving optimal biological dose (OBD). The methods reviewed include mTPI, keyboard, BOIN, and their variations. In addition, the challenges of drug development (and dose-escalation) in the era of immunotherapeutics are discussed, where many of these agents typically have a wide therapeutic window. Fictional examples of how the dose-escalation method chosen can alter the outcomes of a phase 1 study are described, including the number of patients enrolled, the trial's timeframe, and the dose level chosen as MTD. Finally, the recent trends in dose-escalation methods applied in phase 1 trials in the immunotherapeutics era are reviewed. Among 856 phase I trials from 2014 to 2019, a trend towards the increased use of model-based and model-assisted designs over time (OR = 1.24) was detected. However, only 8% of the studies used non-rule-based dose-escalation methods. Increasing familiarity with such dose-escalation methods will likely facilitate their uptake in clinical trials.

Antibody Therapy for the Control of Viral Diseases: An Update.

The epidemiological impact of viral diseases, combined with the emergence and reemergence of some viruses, and the difficulties in identifying effective therapies, have encouraged several studies to develop new therapeutic strategies for viral infections. In this context, the use of immunotherapy for the treatment of viral diseases is increasing. One of the strategies of immunotherapy is the use of antibodies, particularly the monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and multi-specific antibodies, which bind directly to the viral antigen and bring about activation of the immune system. With current advancements in science and technology, several such antibodies are being tested, and some are already approved and are undergoing clinical trials. The present work aims to review the status of mAb development for the treatment of viral diseases.

Are peptides a solution for the treatment of hyperactivated JAK3 pathways?

While the inactivation mutations that eliminate JAK3 function lead to the immunological disorders such as severe combined immunodeficiency, activation mutations, causing constitutive JAK3 signaling, are known to trigger various types of cancer or are responsible for autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, or inflammatory bowel diseases. Treatment of hyperactivated JAK3 is still an obstacle, due to different sensibility of mutation types to conventional drugs and unwanted side effects, because these drugs are not absolutely specific for JAK3, thus inhibiting other members of the JAK family, too. Lack of information, in which way sole inhibition of JAK3 is necessary for elimination of the disease, calls for the development of isoform-specific JAK3 inhibitors. Beside this strategy, up to date peptides are a rising alternative as chemo- or immunotherapeutics, but still sparsely represented in drug development and clinical trials. Beyond a possible direct inhibition function, crossing the cancer cell membrane and interfering in disease-causing pathways or triggering apoptosis, peptides could be used in future as adjunct remedies to potentialize traditional therapy and preserve non-affected cells. To discuss such feasible topics, this review deals with the knowledge about the structure-function of JAK3 and the actual state-of-the-art of isoform-specific inhibitor development, as well as the function of currently approved drugs or those currently being tested in clinical trials. Furthermore, several strategies for the application of peptide-based drugs for cancer therapy and the physicochemical and structural relations to peptide efficacy are discussed, and an overview of peptide sequences, which were qualified for clinical trials, is given.