Bioniz Therapeutics Presents Data Demonstrating the Synergistic Effects of Cytokines IL-15 and IL-21 in Celiac Disease Pathogenesis

IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Bioniz Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company leading the discovery and development of first-in-class peptide therapeutics that selectively and simultaneously inhibit multiple cytokines to treat immuno-inflammatory diseases and T-cell malignancies, presented new pre-clinical data at the 17^th International Celiac Disease Symposium held in New Delhi, India.  

Paul Frohna, MD, PhD, PharmD, Senior Vice President of Clinical Development at Bioniz Therapeutics, gave a talk titled "Synergistic Effects of IL-15 and IL-21 in CD Pathogenesis: Experimental Activity of a Novel, Dual IL-15 / IL-21 Inhibitor," which was a collaboration with Dr. Bana Jabri and her colleagues at the University of Chicago and the Universite of Montreal.  The objective of the study presented was to characterize the ex vivo effects of IL-15 and IL-21, two cytokines with presumed disease-driving roles in Celiac Disease, on human intestinal Intra Epithelial Lymphocytes (IEL) signaling pathways and gene expression. The study also characterized the effects of BNZ-2, Bioniz' pre-clinical stage inhibitor of IL-15 and IL-21, on IL-15- and IL-21-mediated signaling and gene expression in human intestinal IELs.

These studies showed that the combination of IL-15 + IL-21 induces three complementary cellular signaling pathways (JAK-STAT, PI3K/pAkt, MAPK/pERK) that led to profound alterations of the transcriptional program in IELs, which altered the expression of more than 4400 genes. Further, BNZ-2 effectively blocked all three IL-15 and IL-21 signaling pathways in IELs and prevented the subsequent changes in gene expression.

"These study results suggest that BNZ-2 represents a novel, promising therapeutic approach for the treatment of Celiac Disease. We expect to initiate human clinical trials with BNZ-2 in 2018," said Dr. Frohna.

About Bioniz

Bioniz is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company leading the discovery and development of first-in-class multi-cytokine inhibitory peptide therapeutics to address immuno-inflammatory diseases and cancer. Bioniz leverages its world class expertise in cytokine biology, originating in research conducted at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to develop a novel approach to selectively inhibit functionally redundant cytokines while leaving the rest of the cytokine network intact. Bioniz' innovative platform has resulted in multiple peer-reviewed publications in notable scientific journals. Bioniz' lead product candidate, BNZ-1, has completed a Phase 1 clinical trial in healthy volunteers and is currently being evaluated in two ongoing clinical studies in healthy volunteers (NCT03239379) and patients with large granular lymphocyte leukemia or cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (NCT03239392). For more information, please visit www.bioniz.com.

SOURCE Bioniz Therapeutics, Inc.