Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Oct;8(10):1459-64.
doi: 10.4161/hv.21405. Epub 2012 Oct 1.

Teaching tolerance: New approaches to enzyme replacement therapy for Pompe disease

Affiliations

Teaching tolerance: New approaches to enzyme replacement therapy for Pompe disease

Leslie P Cousens et al. Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2012 Oct.

Abstract

Babies born with Pompe disease require life-long treatment with enzyme-replacement therapy (ERT). Despite the human origin of the therapy, recombinant human lysosomal acid α glucosidase (GAA, rhGAA), ERT unfortunately leads to the development of high titers of anti-rhGAA antibody, decreased effectiveness of ERT, and a fatal outcome for a significant number of children who have Pompe disease. The severity of disease, anti-drug antibody (ADA) development, and the consequences thereof are directly related to the degree of the enzyme deficiency. Babies born with a complete deficiency GAA are said to have cross-reactive immunologic material (CRIM)-negative Pompe disease and are highly likely to develop GAA ADA. Less frequently, GAA ADA develop in CRIM-positive individuals. Currently, GAA-ADA sero-positive babies are treated with a combination of immunosuppressive drugs to induce immunological tolerance to ERT, but the long-term effect of these regimens is unknown. Alternative approaches that might redirect the immune response toward antigen-specific tolerance without immunosuppressive agents are needed. Methods leading to the induction of antigen-specific regulatory T cells (Tregs), using peptides such as Tregitopes (T regulatory cell epitopes) are under consideration for the future treatment of CRIM-negative Pompe disease. Tregitopes are natural T cell epitopes derived from immunoglobulin G (IgG) that cause the expansion and activation of regulatory T cells (Treg). Teaching the immune system to tolerate GAA by co-delivering GAA with Tregitope peptides might dramatically improve the lives of CRIM-negative babies and could be applied to other enzyme replacement therapies to which ADA have been induced.

Keywords: ADA; Anti-drug Antibodies; ERT; Enzyme Replacement Therapy; Lysosomal acid alpha glucosidase (GAA); Pompe Disease; Regulatory T cell; Treg; Tregitope; tolerance.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

None
Figure 1. Hypothesized Tregitope mechanism of action. Treg epitopes (Tregitopes) present in Fc and Fab domain of IgG drive tolerance to neo-epitopes pre-sent in the Fab hypervariable domains. EpiVax discovered conserved T -cell epitopes in IgG that engage natural Treg. We hypothesize that Tregitopes (dark blue) activate Treg that lead to bystander suppression of effector T cells that recognize effector epitopes (red) and, depending on the context, induction of antigen-specific Tregs (aTregs) to these epitopes.

References

    1. Rohrbach M, Klein A, Köhli-Wiesner A, Veraguth D, Scheer I, Balmer C, et al. CRIM-negative infantile Pompe disease: 42-month treatment outcome. J Inherit Metab Dis. 2010;33:751–7. doi: 10.1007/s10545-010-9209-0. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Joseph A, Munroe K, Housman M, Garman R, Richards S. Immune tolerance induction to enzyme-replacement therapy by co-administration of short-term, low-dose methotrexate in a murine Pompe disease model. Clin Exp Immunol. 2008;152:138–46. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2249.2008.03602.x. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Garman RD, Munroe K, Richards SM. Methotrexate reduces antibody responses to recombinant human alpha-galactosidase A therapy in a mouse model of Fabry disease. Clin Exp Immunol. 2004;137:496–502. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2249.2004.02567.x. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Moran E, Carbone F, Augusti V, Patrone F, Ballestrero A, Nencioni A. Proteasome inhibitors as immunosuppressants: biological rationale and clinical experience. Semin Hematol. 2012;49:270–6. doi: 10.1053/j.seminhematol.2012.04.004. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gea-Banacloche JC. Rituximab-associated infections. Semin Hematol. 2010;47:187–98. doi: 10.1053/j.seminhematol.2010.01.002. - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms

Substances