| 19494271 |
Bardwell PD, Gu J, McCarthy D, Wallace C, Bryant S, Goess C, Mathieu S, Grinnell C, Erickson J, Rosenberg SH, Schwartz AJ, Hugunin M, Tarcsa E, Elmore SW, McRae B, Murtaza A, Wang LC, Ghayur T: The Bcl-2 family antagonist ABT-737 significantly inhibits multiple animal models of autoimmunity. J Immunol. 2009 Jun 15;182(12):7482-9.
The Bcl-2 family of proteins plays a critical role in controlling immune responses by regulating the expansion and contraction of activated lymphocyte clones by apoptosis. ABT-737, which was originally developed for oncology, is a potent inhibitor of Bcl-2, Bcl-x (L), and Bcl-w protein function. There is evidence that Bcl-2-associated dysregulation of lymphocyte apoptosis may contribute to the pathogenesis of autoimmunity and lead to the development of autoimmune diseases. In this study, we report that ABT-737 treatment resulted in potent inhibition of lymphocyte proliferation as measured by in vitro mitogenic or ex vivo Ag-specific stimulation. More importantly, ABT-737 significantly reduced disease severity in tissue-specific and systemic animal models of autoimmunity. Bcl-2 family antagonism by ABT-737 was efficacious in treating animal models of arthritis and lupus. Our results suggest that treatment with a Bcl-2 family antagonist represents a novel and potentially attractive therapeutic approach for the clinical treatment of autoimmunity. |
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