Receptor for Advanced Glycation Endproducts (RAGE) is a signaling protein that senses a multiplicity of ligands and has emerged as a central player in the host immune response. Because of this, RAGE and its ligands have been extensively evaluated as potential targets in diseases that involve the immune system, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetes, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), as well as a pathway to enhance immune response to resistant bacterial infection and cancer. This technology identifies the complement protein C1q as a critical enhancer of RAGE-mediated phagocytosis and the adaptive immune response. The technology has the potential to modulate the immune response for numerous diseases and offers researchers a novel target for the immune system.
C1q is the target recognition protein of the classical complement pathway and a major connecting link between innate and acquired immunity. The technology identifies RAGE as a potent receptor for C1q, and provides methods for identifying compounds capable of modulating RAGE-C1q binding. These methods could be developed into a kit to screen for novel pharmaceuticals such as antibodies, aptamers, peptides, small molecules or siRNAs that could inhibit binding to suppress chronic inflammatory diseases, as it relates to SLE and AMD, or to further enhance the immune response to combat antibiotic resistant bacterial infection.
The technology has been validated in vitro using RAGE-expressing cells and soluble forms of RAGE (sRAGE).
Patent Pending (WO/2014/127064)
Tech Ventures Reference: IR 2705