ITN News

This year marks the Immune Tolerance Network's 10th anniversary!

Results of an Immune Tolerance Network clinical trial may provide doctors with another weapon in the treatment of ANCA-associated vasculitis, which has seen no new approved treatments in 40 years. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that the drug rituximab provides the same treatment benefits as the existing standard of care, and appears to offer additional benefits to those suffering relapses.

The results of two Immune Tolerance Network (ITN)-sponsored efforts in identifying genetic and cellular signatures of transplant tolerance were published this week in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The signatures are patterns of gene expression and cell types that were found to be characteristic of a set of rare patients who developed a natural tolerance for their kidney transplant – meaning they do not require anti-rejection medications.

The ITN is currently seeking Concept Proposals for novel clinical trials designed to induce immune tolerance in Type 1 Diabetes, transplantation, autoimmune diseases, and allergy and asthma.  In addition the ITN accepts applications for the development of novel tolerance assays or mechanistic studies for the purposes of establishing new surrogate biomarkers of immune tolerance and investigating the mechanisms of clinical tolerance.  Proposals should be submitted via our site:  http://www.immunetolerance.org/professionals/proposals/guidelines

The recommendations of the ITN//JDRF Type 1 Diabetes Combination Therapy Assessment Group have been published in the May 2010 issue of Clinical & Experimental Immunology. The assessment group convened mid-2009 to examine the opportunities and challenges in developing clinical investigations of combination therapies for new onset type 1 diabetes.

SEATTLE – The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has named Gerald T. Nepom, MD, PhD, as the director of the Immune Tolerance Network, one of the largest government-funded clinical research networks in the country working to establish new treatments for diseases of the immune system. Dr. Nepom is presently the director of Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI) and will maintain both positions providing scientific oversight and management.

ITN Director and founder, Jeffrey A. Bluestone has accepted the position of Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost at the University of California, San Francisco, pending approval by the UC Regents. Details of his new appointment may be found on the UCSF website .  As he embarks upon his latest challenge at UCSF, Bluestone will step down as Director of the Immune Tolerance Network.  From its inception a decade ago, Bluestone has led the ITN with extraordinary dedication.

The ITN's START research trial for new-onset type 1 diabetes has received the approval of its Data Safety and Monitoring Board to accept patients aged 12-18 years into the study. The decision was made after a review of safety data from the initial group of 10 adult subjects enrolled into the study. The trial is now open to individuals between the ages of 12-35 who have been diagnosed with new-onset type 1 diabetes within the past 3 months.  The START trial is being conducted under the direction of principal investigator Dr.

Results of the ITN's study of a novel vaccine for treatment of new onset type 1 diabetes has been published in the Journal of Autoimmunity. Led by Joslin Diabetes Clinic's Tihamer Orban, the study determined that a vaccine comprised of insulin B-chain in incomplete Freund's adjuvant was generally safe and well-tolerated.

The Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) is seeking ‘Proposal Outlines’ for novel clinical trials designed to induce immune tolerance in psoriasis and other autoimmune skin disorders, including those mediated by autoantibodies such as pemphigus and pemphigoid.A special assessment group has been convened by the ITN to consider these proposals.