Johns Hopkins and CEL-SCI scientists present results in autoimmune disease research.(Brief Article)

2002 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists from the laboratory of Dr. Noel Rose in The Johns Hopkins University department of pathology and CEL-SCI Corp. (CVM) presented data at the Experimental Biology 2002 meeting that could lead to development of a treatment for autoimmune myocarditis, a life threatening heart disease, characterized by an enlarged heart.

This data showed that the symptoms of autoimmune myocarditis in a mouse model can be significantly reduced by immunization with a compound developed by CEL-SCI. These findings may lead to the preparation of a therapeutic vaccine, which could reduce the severity and/or prevent progression of autoimmune myocarditis.

Myocarditis is a precursor to dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition leading to a form of chronic heart failure (CHF) characterized by an inflamed heart. At the end stage of CHF, a heart transplant is required or death ensues. The incidence in the United States alone of dilated cardiomyopathy is about 200,000 people.

Rose's team evaluated administration of a peptide construct incorporating CEL-SCI's patented technology, L.E.A.P.S. (ligand epitope antigen presentation system), in the well-established A/J mouse model of experimental autoimmune myocarditis. The L.E.A.P.S. construct treated mice showed significant amelioration of disease symptoms and a marked, statistically significant decrease in the average disease severity scores from >2 (5 being maximal severity) in untreated animals to 0.78 ...