Applications of MIMIC™ Technology
Our clinical trial in a well mirrors the human immune system more closely than any other model available. It simulates chemical efficacy of a immunotherapy or vaccine on human population subgroups, rapidly and consistently. These results enable the design of more rapid and incisive clinical trials, drastically reducing the time and costs to produce new drugs and vaccines, accelerating their development and lab-to-market schedule.
We plan to use MIMIC™ technology to develop a predictive model for testing autoimmune drug candidates. These disease model constructs will be made by combining the LTE with another module that contains autoreactive tissue or antigen (e.g., myelin basic protein), thus providing a model system for the interaction of the immune system with the disease.
We plan to use MIMIC™ technology to develop a predictive model for vaccine effectiveness. The MIMIC™ vaccine immunogenicity test will not predict whether a vaccine will be functionally protective when administered to a subject. Immunogenicity of a vaccine is necessary for effectiveness, but not sufficient. A vaccine is effective if the immune system develops T cell and B cell responses that neutralize and/or clear the pathogen when the subject later becomes infected. We will develop pathogen disease modules to combine with the LTE and VS to predict the potential effectiveness of a vaccine in humans. For example, we could construct an influenza disease module using human lung cells and the influenza virus to determine the potential effectiveness of a test vaccine on a strain of influenza virus, such as the H5N1, or mutations of the virus.
Vaccine Immunogenicity
MIMIC™ vaccine immunogenicity test predicts the immunogenicity of a vaccine candidate, i.e., the level and character of the immune response (cellular and/or humoral).
Biologic Drug Immunogenicity
A biologic drug (e.g., antibody, recombinant protein) may be recognized as “foreign” or immunogenic by the human body. MIMIC™ may be used to predict the immunogenicity of a biologic.
Immune Modulator Drug
Drugs are used to suppress a part of the immune system. For example, TNFα blockers are immune suppressants widely used to combat autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. In this application, the LTE would be primed with a known activator of the immune system pathway of interest. The drug candidate would be tested in this model. The results would be measured in the same way as the vaccine test.
Medical Diagnostics
Personalized Medicine: MIMIC™ autoimmune disease models could allow the physician to use immune cells from the blood of a patient to predict which medication(s) and dosages would work for that patient, resulting in more effective treatment.