Type V Collagen Oral Solution(ImmuneWorks)

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive lung disease with poor prognosis. IPF appears to be heterogeneous in pathobiology with ∼40% of IPF patients found to have elevated levels of circulating antibodies to the autoantigen type V collagen (col(V)).Following a targeted, precision medicine approach, we conducted a phase 1 study to test the safety and explore potential efficacy of IW001, a col(V) oral immunotherapeutic developed to treat antibody-positive IPF patients. We divided 30 antibody-positive IPF patients into three cohorts for daily dosing over a 24-week period.All patients completed treatment without serious adverse events, acute exacerbations or IPF-related hospitalisations. A decline in lung function occurred in the lowest-dose cohort that was comparable to that reported in placebo arms of published IPF trials. In contrast, the highest-dose cohort showed a trend toward stabilisation of forced vital capacity and matrix metalloproteinase 7, and a reduction in binding of C1q to anti-col(V) antibodies.IW001 may modulate the immune response to col(V) and may represent a new therapeutic for col(V)- reactive IPF patients.

The modified Rodnan skin score (MRSS) is a standard outcome measure for skin disease in SSc and calculated by summation of skin thickness in 17 different body sites (total score = 51). Our objective was to evaluate the sensitivity of change over time of individual body sites used in the calculation of total MRSS.

We analysed two randomized placebo controlled clinical trials investigating the effect of either recombinant human relaxin or type I oral collagen in dcSSc. Both trials used MRSS as the primary outcome measure. We used a change of >10 mm (on a 0-100 VAS) in the patient global assessment (PGA) as the clinically important improvement. We calculated the mean change and the effect size (ES) for each individual body site used in the total MRSS for each study. Magnitude of ES was assessed using Cohen's rule of thumb for ES.

In the relaxin and collagen studies, 71 of 199 patients (36%) and 54 of 129 (42%) of patients had an improvement >10 mm on the PGA at 6 and 12 months, respectively. Total MRSS had large ES in both studies (0.85-0.98); the chest, forearms and hands had moderate ES (0.50-0.74); and the lower extremities, face, abdomen and fingers had small ES (0.16-0.49).

Certain body sites (hands, forearms and chest) are more sensitive to change compared with other body sites in two randomized clinical trials. It remains to be seen whether decreasing the number of body sites by exclusion of relatively static areas would further increase the sensitivity to change over time of the total MRSS.