Poster Presenter

Interleukin-11 therapy as a replacement for IVIG?
Danila Leontyev, Yulia Katsman and Donald R. Branch
Canada

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is a pleiotropic therapeutic, used to treat a number of immunologic, autoimmune and inflammatory conditions. IVIG is produced from thousands of human plasma donors, requires high doses for efficacy, is very expensive and has some problematic side effects, including a slight risk of disease transmission. Although the mechanism of action of IVIG is uncertain, we have recently proposed that IVIG effects can be explained by its ability to induce interleukin (IL)-11. IL-11 is a pleiotropic cytokine that has been used to treat a similar spectrum of disorders as has IVIG. Thus, use of IL-11 may provide a replacement drug for IVIG. However, we have found that the expression system used for production of recombinant IL-11 (rIL-11) may affect its In vivo efficacy. Indeed, we have shown using a mouse model, decreased efficacy of rIL-11 to reverse immune thrombocytopenia when using rIL-11 produced in Esherichia coli compared to rIL-11 produced in Baculovirus. Thus, rIL-11 efficacy may be dependent on the in vitro expression system used to produce it. It is thus imperative that any future clinical trials of rIL-11 should take into consideration the manufacturing process used to produce the drug in any evaluation of efficacy. In this regard, our mouse model may be of benefit in evaluation of IL-11 efficacy for human use.