Sygnature Discovery launches in vivo inflammation model and includes kidney and neuroinflammation

The company has made the in vivo LPS model of inflammation to profile early-stage anti-inflammatory drugs which it says will help understand conditions including Parkinson’s Disease, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and traumatic brain injuries. It also intends to identify new drugs with the model.

The current options include attempting to ameliorate the pain and inflammation associated with the early-stage of this conditions or to suppress the immune system which can result in an increase of susceptibility to infectious disease.

An LPS mouse model has been used and is said to be an accurate, reliable, and inexpensive way of producing cytokines.

Sygnature’s model supports early-stage anti-inflammatory in neuroinflammation, kidney and systemic inflammation. At an agreed time, post LPS tissue from the blood, brain or kidney is collected and tested for various pro-inflammatory cytokines. The inclusion of kidney inflammation and neuroinflammation studies in this LPS model sets it apart from conventional models the company says provide valuable insights into the complex interplay of inflammation in different organs.

John Unitt, vice president of inflammation and immunology at Sygnature said: “An important step in drug discovery is the successful translation of a drug's effect on in vitro cell function to efficacy in an in vivo disease model.

“Sygnature's LPS in vivo model provides that initial step in determining the efficacy of a novel anti-inflammatory. Getting this first in vivo inflammation model off the ground is an exciting start, but it is only the beginning of a pipeline of new models planned to test a broader range of immunomodulatory drugs and mechanisms.”

The company says this unique capability enables researchers to identify new drug mechanisms, evaluate drug efficacy, that will enhance understanding of kidney and neuroinflammatory diseases, driving the downstream development of targeted therapeutic interventions for patients with unmet needs.

The model also enables an understanding of the pharmacology and processes that underpin systemic inflammation and builds on existing in vitro capabilities within Sygnature Discovery to further strengthen drug target validation and translation from in vitro to in vivo. The company says it measures key pro-inflammatory cytokines in blood and provides a useful model system to quickly evaluate the efficacy of novel anti-inflammatory drugs in early drug discovery.

Max Mirza, vice president of neuroscience at Sygnature said: “Neuroinflammation like systemic and kidney inflammation involves many of the same inflammatory mediators (cytokines, chemokines). 

"Working across our therapeutic teams to establish the LPS model and measure these inflammatory mediators in different parts of the body allows our clients to gain a more holistic answer to their scientific questions. Whether that be a better understanding regarding the mechanism of action, the role of a target on inflammatory processes in multiple body compartments simultaneously, or relevance to a drug’s efficacy.

“This unique approach allows our clients to understand if impacting systemic inflammation can influence neuroinflammation, and whether systemic inflammatory mediators are potential translatable biomarkers of neuroinflammation.”