Idera Pharmaceuticals (Idera) has provided preclinical data on the mechanism by which IMO-2125 was shown to induce immune activation through Toll-like Receptor 9 (TLR9). IMO-2125 is a novel DNA-based TLR9 agonist being evaluated for the treatment of chronic HCV infection.
In the study, IMO-2125 induction of cytokines was evaluated in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (hPBMCs) and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs). The data showed that IMO-2125 induced high levels of endogenous interferon-alpha along with interferon-beta, interferon-lambda, and other proteins including IP-10 and 2’-5’-OAS.
Moreover, IMO-2125-induced cytokines showed potent antiviral activity in the HCV replicon assay. Antiviral activity was decreased by addition of anti-interferon-alpha antibody, but only partially which suggests that other cytokines and chemokines induced by IMO-2125 also contribute to the antiviral activity.
Sudhir Agrawal, chief scientific officer and CEO at Idera, said: “Induction of endogenous interferon-alpha and other antiviral proteins by IMO-2125 provides a novel immunotherapy approach to the potential treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus infection. We currently are evaluating IMO-2125 in two phase 1 clinical trials involving HCV patients non-responsive to standard of care treatment and patients who are treatment-naïve. Data from these clinical trials will guide decisions for further development of IMO-2125.”