La Jolla's SSAO inhibitor may prevent stroke, inflammation damage, studies say

By Angela McDaniels

Seattle, Dec. 14 - La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co. said data published in two peer-reviewed articles show that the company's orally active small molecule inhibitors of SSAO may provide clinical benefit for the treatment of stroke, ulcerative colitis and other autoimmune diseases and inflammatory disorders.

The first paper indicates that a potent and selective SSAO inhibitor, LJP 1207, may provide clinical benefit in the treatment of stroke.

Treatment with LJP 1207 in an animal model resulted in marked reduction in the adhesion and infiltration of white blood cells into the blood vessels of the brain after the occurrence of stroke and significantly less neurological damage, the company said.

"Treatment with LJP 1207 as late as six hours after the onset of stroke in an animal model still had a positive protective effect of reducing inflammation and neurological damage," Dale Pelligrino of University of Illinois at Chicago said in a company news release.

The paper, by Xu et al., was published electronically by the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics on Dec. 8.

The second paper demonstrates that treatment with LJP 1207 significantly reduced mortality, loss of body weight, colon injury and ulceration in a mouse model of chronic inflammation with ulcerative colitis.

In a model of acute inflammation, treatment with LJP 1207 given either before or after inflammation was induced resulted in the marked inhibition of both swelling and inflammation, the company said.

The paper, by Salter-Cid et al, was published in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, volume 315.

"These two papers highlight the impact of treatment with SSAO inhibitors on disease models of stroke, ulcerative colitis and general inflammation. The efficacy of our lead compounds has also been demonstrated in animal models of multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis," chief scientific officer Matthew Linnik said in the release.

SSAO, also known as vascular adhesion protein-1, is a molecule that contributes to the adhesion of white blood cells to endothelial cells and is greatly amplified in blood vessels at sites of inflammation. The enzyme activity also produces molecules that can exacerbate inflammation.

Increases in the levels of plasma or membrane-associated SSAO have been reported for many inflammation-associated diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, atherosclerosis and chronic heart failure, the company said.

La Jolla is a biotechnology company based in San Diego that develops therapeutics for antibody-mediated autoimmune diseases and inflammation.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.