ProMIS starts new program to find novel Alzheimer’s disease targets on toxic strains of protein tau

Commenting on today’s announcement, ProMIS Chief Science Officer, Dr. Neil Cashman, stated: “The root cause of AD are prion variants of Amyloid beta (“Aβ”)  and tau, as described in detail on our website.  

"With multiple product candidates in our Aβ program progressing to final validation and selection for drug development, we are focusing our science team and discovery processes on the other half of the root cause – tau prions”.   

Tau is a “microtubule-associated” protein that helps stabilize the axons of brain neurons. In AD and other neurodegenerative disorders however, tau loses its normal function and forms abnormal aggregates (clumps) of protein—called neurofibrillary tangles—that are toxic to nerve cells.

“In order to develop an effective Alzheimer’s disease therapeutic targeting tau, we need to identify the structures present in only the prion-like, neurotoxic strains of the protein,” explained Dr. Steven Plotkin, ProMIS Chief Physics Officer.

“This is where ProMIS’ computational methods have been extremely fruitful: our approach combines the identification of prion-like regions inside the protein—regions that may be involved in propagating aggregates—with molecular dynamics simulation to find novel, rational therapeutic targets.”

ProMIS Neurosciences’ proprietary target discovery engine is based on the use of two, complementary techniques. The Company applies its thermodynamic, computational discovery platforms—ProMIS™ and Collective Coordinates — to predict novel targets known as Disease Specific Epitopes (DSEs) on the molecular surface of misfolded proteins. Using this unique “precision medicine” approach, ProMIS Neurosciences is developing novel antibody therapeutics and specific companion diagnostics for Alzheimer’s disease and ALS.

The company has also developed two proprietary technologies to specifically identify very low levels of misfolded proteins in a biological sample. In addition, ProMIS Neurosciences owns a portfolio of therapeutic and diagnostic patents relating to misfolded SOD1 in ALS, and currently has three preclinical monoclonal antibody therapeutics against this target.