Screening Method to Identify Scleroderma Immune Responses with Anti-cancer Activity, and Induction of such Immune Responses for Cancer Therapy

Unmet Need
Epidemiological studies have shown that patients with scleroderma, a type of autoimmune rheumatic disease affecting the skin and connective tissues, have an increased risk of developing cancer relative to the general population. The exact etiology of scleroderma is still unknown. The Scleroderma Foundation estimates about 100,000 to 300,000 people in the U.S. have this disease; most are women between the ages of 30 and 50. Many of these patients coincidentally develop cancers within a few years of their scleroderma diagnosis suggesting a physiological link between the two diseases.
 
Patients with scleroderma can be subcategorized based on their unique immunological profile. When investigated at this level, Johns Hopkins investigators discovered that some autoimmune antibody profiles were correlated to a surprisingly many-fold lower cancer incidence rate relative to a risk-adjusted general population. Methods to quickly categorize, screen, and treat newly-diagnosed scleroderma patient populations could remarkably improve prognoses as well as have broader implications for immuno-oncology patients with autoimmune diseases.
 
Technology Overview
Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a panel of autoantibodies present in scleroderma patients that correlate with increased or decreased risk of cancer through epidemiological studies and serologically subtyping relative to age, gender, race and ethnicity matched individuals in the general population.
 
In comparative studies of scleroderma patients diagnosed with cancer to those without cancer, sera were analyzed for autoantibodies against centromeres, topoisomerase I, and RNA polymerases I and III (Pol I and Pol III, respectively). A subgroup of patients with anti-Pol III antibodies and no cancer had a novel autoantibody against Pol I. It was further discovered that patients who had anti-centromere and/or anti-RNA Pol I autoantibodies had a drastically reduced incidence of cancer compared to the general population. Altogether, these findings allows physicians to efficiently screen newly diagnosed scleroderma patients for cancer risk as well as suggesting that replacement of protective autoantibodies may be a novel immunotherapy in this patient population.
 
Stage of Development
Researchers have identified autoantibodies that indicate decreased cancer risk or protection.
 
Publications
Manuscript in preparation
 

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