Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Applying complement therapeutics to rare diseases

2015; Elsevier BV; Volume: 161; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.clim.2015.08.009

1521-7035

Edimara S. Reis, Dimitrios C. Mastellos, Despina Yancopoulou, Antonio M. Risitano, Daniel Ricklin, John D. Lambris,

Adenosine and Purinergic Signaling

Around 350 million people worldwide suffer from rare diseases. These may have a genetic, infectious, or autoimmune basis, and several include an inflammatory component. Launching of effective treatments can be very challenging when there is a low disease prevalence and limited scientific insights into the disease mechanisms. As a key trigger of inflammatory processes, complement has been associated with a variety of diseases and has become an attractive therapeutic target for conditions involving inflammation. In view of the clinical experience acquired with drugs licensed for the treatment of rare diseases such as hereditary angioedema and paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, growing evidence supports the safety and efficacy of complement therapeutics in restoring immune balance and preventing aggravation of clinical outcomes. This review provides an overview of the candidates currently in the pharmaceutical pipeline with potential to treat orphan diseases and discusses the molecular mechanisms triggered by complement involved with the disease pathogenesis.