Idera presents data on TLR 3 agonist as vaccine adjuvants at Immunological Meeting

Oct 30 2010

Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: IDRA) today announced a presentation describing the chemistry and immunological activity of its proprietary Toll-Like Receptor (TLR) 3 agonist compounds and the use of these compounds as vaccine adjuvants in a preclinical model. The presentation entitled "Novel synthetic double-stranded oligoribonucleotides act as agonists of Toll-like receptor 3, induce immune responses, and show potent adjuvant activity with HBsAg in mice" is being made today at the Immunological Mechanisms of Vaccination Keystone Meeting in Seattle, Washington.

“The immune response produced by these TLR3 agonists provides rationale for developing our TLR3-targeted compounds as vaccine adjuvants and we plan to expand preclinical evaluation of these compounds.”

"We have created novel proprietary agonists of TLR3 using our chemistry-based approach to identify TLR-targeted compounds," commented Sudhir Agrawal, D.Phil., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Idera Pharmaceuticals. "The immune response produced by these TLR3 agonists provides rationale for developing our TLR3-targeted compounds as vaccine adjuvants and we plan to expand preclinical evaluation of these compounds."

The data presented describe novel TLR3 agonists that are synthetic double-stranded RNA structures of defined length and composition. These agonists induce Th1-specific immune responses through TLR3 in cell-based assays. Subcutaneous administration of the TLR3 agonists in mice resulted in increased serum levels of certain cytokines and chemokines. In addition, mice vaccinated with hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAG) and one of the TLR3 agonists showed dose-dependent increases in IgG1, IgG2a, and total IgG in the serum and increased IFN-γ production in their spleen recalled response compared with mice vaccinated with HBsAG alone. Induction of these antibodies and IFN-γ generally indicates a protective immune response to the antigen administered. Authors of the presentation are Victoria J. Philbin, Ph.D., Tao Lan, Ph.D., Daqing Wang, Ph.D., Weiwen Jiang, Ph.D., Lakshmi Bhagat, Ph.D., Nicola La Monica, Ph.D., Ekambar R. Kandimalla Ph.D., and Sudhir Agrawal, D. Phil., all of Idera Pharmaceuticals. Idera has pending patent applications claiming this class of compounds.

Source: Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc.