VANCOUVER, Nov. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - International arthritis investigators
this week at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American College of
Rheumatology held in Washington, DC presented data related to the
14-3-3 protein and its auto-antibodies, a promising set of new
blood-based markers from Augurex, that alone or in combination with
other markers, may aid in the diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), a
debilitating and chronic autoimmune disease that affects 1.5% of the
population. Early diagnosis, assisted by proven RA markers, can lead to
earlier treatment of RA, which is associated with significantly better
outcomes for patients with this disease.
Dr. Walter Maksymowych, co-inventor of 14-3-3, the principal
investigator of several 14-3-3 studies and Medical Research Professor
of Medicine and Rheumatologist at the University of Alberta, Canada
says, "The data that we have previously presented over the past two
years indicate that 14-3-3 on its own, and in combination with blood
tests currently used, such as RF and anti-CCP, can increase the
diagnosis rate of patients with RA. Also, in both RA and Psoriatic
Arthritis, it marks joint damage which is an irreversible process
contributing to the physical debilitation associated with these
diseases."
Because 14-3-3 is not normally found in the blood, when it is present
in patients with RA, it appears that the body tries to clear it by
mounting an immune response creating "auto-antibodies" to 14-3-3 which
can be measured in blood. Dr. Anthony Marotta, Chief Scientific Officer
of Augurex Life Sciences Corp, the company that has been investigating
14-3-3 says, "The data presented at ACR describes the measurement of
14-3-3 and its "auto-antibodies" for RA diagnosis. Further studies are
planned to determine their clinical usefulness to assess the risk of
aggressive disease and likely response to specific therapies."
Dr. Paul-Peter Tak, Professor of Medicine at the Academic Medical
Center, University of Amsterdam was the principal investigator of a
14-3-3 study in Psoriatic Arthritis that was presented at this
meeting. "Similar to the 14-3-3 data in RA, we saw that the marker
was particularly elevated in Psoriatic Arthritis patients with joint
damage, and that its expression marked likelihood of response to a
therapy called adalimumab. Now we are observing that when the levels of
14-3-3 decrease twelve weeks after the treatment is started, that it
marks response to therapy. This is potentially very useful in the
clinic since we need additional markers of joint damage and response to
therapy to help us better manage these patients," says Dr. Tak.
These data come recently after Augurex Life Sciences Corp announced in
September 2012 that it had formed an exclusive license agreement with
Quest Diagnostics for the development of a clinical
laboratory-developed testing service based on 14-3-3 for the United
States. Quest Diagnostics, the world's leading diagnostic testing
company serving approximately half of the physicians and hospitals in
the United States, expects to launch the service in 2013.
"The novel biomarker 14-3-3 has the potential to provide the basis for
a laboratory testing service that can aid in the early diagnosis of RA
and help monitor disease activity," said Stanley J. Naides, M.D.,
Medical Director, Immunology R&D and Interim Scientific Director,
Immunology R&D, Quest Diagnostics, and an attendee of ACR. "Quest
Diagnostics has a strong immunology expertise, and we look forward to
developing a new testing service based on the Augurex marker to be
added to our arthritis menu to advance rheumatologic practice."
SOURCE Augurex Life Sciences Corp.