Immune Tolerance Network

The Feinstein Institute in New York City has enrolled the first patient in the Immune Tolerance Network’s ACCESS clinical trial of abatacept and cyclophosphamide for lupus nephritis. The study is seeking to enroll 100 participants at clinical centers across the US and Mexico over the next three years.Systemic lupus erythematosus (or ‘SLE’, commonly known as ‘lupus’) affects an estimated 1.5 million Americans, 90% of whom are women.

As you may have noticed, the ITN website has undergone some pretty majorchanges. We hope you enjoy the new look and will find the new site easier tonavigate and as informative as our previous versions. Our website has gone through several iterations since the ITN was founded in 1999. Prior to this redesign, the last revision took place in May 2002, whenthe ITN was still relatively young and was conducting only a handful of clinical trials.

A phase I study of costimulatory blocking agent CTLA4Ig shows that the treatment appears safe for use in multiple sclerosis and that it can induce favorable immunologic changes. Results from the ITN-led study were published in the September 16, 2008 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Neurology. A total of 20 relapsing-remitting MS subjects were enrolled in the phase 1 dose escalation study of intravenous CTLA4Ig infusions, conducted at Brigham & Women's Hospital under the direction of principal investigator Samia J. Khoury, MD.