Low doses of interleukin 2 give encouraging results in autoimmune disease. A strategy that could concern type 1 diabetes.
” This is a real therapeutic turning point and it could well revolutionize the treatment of autoimmune diseases., explains Prof. Patrice Cacoub, who works in the internal medicine department at the Pitié-Salpétrière hospital. His team first used low-dose interleukin 2 to treat autoimmune vasculitis, a disease that destroys the walls of veins and arteries. The use of interleukin 2, a communication substance made by cells of the immune system, is an innovative strategy because, until now, IL2 has been used in oncology, such as in the treatment of kidney cancer or cancer. melanoma.
This molecule is used for its ability to strengthen effector T lymphocytes, in other words lymphocytes “killers” of carcinogenic cells. But it should be remembered that it also stimulates the regulatory T lymphocytes, those which must in particular prevent the appearance of immune disorder … It is for this second power that IL2 was used in the treatment of vasculitis. Moreover, the team of Professors Patrice Cacoub and David Klatzmann had shown that people suffering from vasculitis induced by hepatitis C present a deficit in regulatory T lymphocytes … Hence the idea of carrying out a therapeutic trial in these patients with IL2. The whole point is to boost the regulatory lymphocytes but without over-activating the killer lymphocytes.
For that, it was necessary to find the right dosage. ” Ten people suffering from these complications, and who were refractory to conventional treatment, were treated with subcutaneous injections of interleukin 2 at doses 10 times lower than in oncology. They had four cures of 5 days at three week intervals, specifies Patrice Cacoub, who published the results after six months of follow-up in the New England Journal of Medicine. ” We have shown that the treatment increases the number of T regulators, the patients leave with rates below 3% on average and they go back up to 8, 10, 12%. And after six months, tolerance was good, the patients did not have an inflammatory flare with the treatment. “.
Prof. Patrice Cacoub, La Pitié Salpêtrière hospital, Paris: “Good results with perfect tolerance”
The results of this trial go beyond vasculitis. Indeed, many other autoimmune diseases present a deficit in regulatory T lymphocytes. ” This treatment with interleukins 2 at low doses has a very significant potential: type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, etc. “Enthuses Patrice Cacoub who has already launched a trial in people suffering from type 1 diabetes.
Prof. Patrice Cacoub: “A very important potential” in several diseases.
