The new drug silenced cytokine-expressing genes, suppressed skin infiltration by inflammatory cells, and healed skin lesions, all without apparent toxicity, in an animal model.

A new investigational topical peptide may can block inflammatory signaling in a preclinical model of atopic dermatitis – eczema, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC)  report.

Treatment for severe cases of eczema includes immunosuppressive drugs to control inflammation, monoclonal antibodies that counteract inflammatory proteins called cytokines or their receptors, and antibiotics to fight infection. These treatments will not cure or fully control eczema, however, and some of the drugs can cause significant side effects.

By contrast, the peptide drug developed by the VUMC researchers silenced cytokine-expressing genes, suppressed skin infiltration by inflammatory cells, and healed skin lesions, all without apparent toxicity, in the animal model.

“We unraveled the mechanism of eczema by demonstrating that we can control at least 15 genes responsible for the production of the major mediators of skin inflammation,” says the lead investigator, Jacek Hawiger, MD, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Louise B. McGavock Professor at VUMC, in a news release.

Hawiger and his colleagues reported their findings in Scientific Reports. The topical drug, which is applied directly to inflamed skin, is now being tested in a multicenter clinical trial in patients with eczema.

Dr. Hawiger is also a professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics at Vanderbilt, and a Health Research Scientist at the Nashville Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Since the mid-1990s, he and his team have been investigating ways to interrupt inflammatory signaling. 

The current study of eczema was supported by the Louise B. McGavock Chair, the Immunotherapy Program in the Department of Medicine, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the National Institutes of Health, and, initially, by Amytrx Therapeutics, a Nashville-based company that Dr. Hawiger cofounded in 2014 to sponsor clinical trials of the drug.

PHOTO CAPTION: Lead investigator, Jacek Hawiger, MD, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Louise B. McGavock Professor at VUMC.

PHOTO CREDIT: Vanderbilt University Medical Cente