LEWISVILLE, Texas, Feb. 25, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Qantu Therapeutics, Inc. announces the issuance of United States patent 10,195,257 titled “Vaccine Formulations Comprising Quillaja Desacylsaponins and Beta Amyloid Peptides or Tau Protein to Induce a TH2 Immune Response.” This patent is directed to the use of Qantu’s adjuvant (immunomodulatory agent), QT-0101, in vaccines containing beta-amyloid or tau protein, to prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
QT-0101 has been designed as a critical component in vaccines that stimulate a protective antibody and anti-inflammatory TH2 immune response against aberrant forms of beta-amyloid and tau protein, culprits in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease where aging is the most important risk factor. QT-0101, a derivative of Quillaja saponins, has the unique capability of inducing a sole TH2 anti-inflammatory immunity with production of regulatory T cells (Tregs), while inhibiting without abrogating the pro-inflammatory TH1/TH17 immunities. Retrospective studies of past consistently failing Alzheimer’s vaccines, reveal that the use of pro-inflammatory adjuvants plus the wrong beta-amyloid derived antigens, may have contributed to their disappointing results. Support for a rationally designed Alzheimer’s vaccine comes from the promising clinical results with early stage patients using monoclonal antibodies that neutralize the neurotoxicity of beta-amyloid oligomers, a protection that an effective vaccine should reproduce in immunized individuals.
To this effect, Qantu has a collaborative effort with Dr. William Klein, from Northwestern University, to develop an Alzheimer’s vaccine based on his group’s pioneering discovery, that beta-amyloid oligomers and not plaque, are the real culprits causing neural death. That vaccine under development, combines unique oligomeric beta-amyloid antigens with the QT-0101 adjuvant, to induce a safe sole anti-inflammatory TH2 immunity that would prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
“Current preclinical data indicate that QT-0101 has significant promise for the development of vaccines to prevent or delay proteopathies like Alzheimer’s disease, critically needed products considering the substantial increase in the aging population and the emotional and financial costs associated with this disease,” said Qantu’s President & Chief Scientific Officer, Dante J. Marciani, Sc.D., Ph.D. “We are pleased to have its intellectual property protected by this patent.”
Qantu is a closely held biopharmaceutical company developing novel products for vaccines against proteopathies, like Alzheimer’s disease, and autoimmune diseases using its technology platform. Qantu also has a pipeline of anti-inflammatory compounds in various stages of preclinical development. These new therapeutic products could enable to optimally modulate the immune system to protect against some rapidly increasing diseases, with minimal side effects and in a cost-effective manner.