ImmuneScanner
Intelligent monitor for your immune system
ImmuneScanner is a lab test that can characterize the immune system from blood samples. The results of ImmuneScanner can guide researchers and clinicians.
Ankylosing Spondylitis
is an autoimmune condition involving a chronic inflammation of vertebra (Spondylitis). It results from the immune system (T cells) attacking joints, mainly between vertebrae of the spine, and also between the spine and the pelvis. It leads to joint stiffness and eventual loss of flexibility and mobility due to fusion of the joints.
Monitor your immmune system
Using our patented technology, we monitor your T Cells and identify patterns in the data, based on extensive training data sets. This is the first step to truly personalizing therapies for autoimmunity.
Personalized solutions for Autoimmunity
Our goal is to help patients get the therapy best suited for them (personalize therapies) and monitor treatment efficacy to help switch to appropriate alternatives when needed. Our current study is helping train ImmuneScanner to identify the best treatment options for each patient, from the myriad choices that are available.Personalized solutions for Autoimmunity
We are a team of scientists and AS patients
A growing problem
We have a combined 40 years experience working with Genomics and its applications in genetics and human disorders. We are now focussing on improving treatment and outcomes for sufferers of autoimmune diseases, who often have no recourse to good diagnosis and therapies. Being able to develop new approaches to this problem is an exciting challenge, especially working with clinicians and patients who are the forefront of this battle.
Enablers
The Team
Dr. Anitha Jayaprakash
Co-FOUNDER and CEO
From her time as a Ph.D. candidate in molecular biology, she has focussed on improving genomic technologies and has been working on clinical applications.
She holds several patents, and her patented work on the TCR repertoire is the basis for ImmuneScanner. She is excited to work with patients to generate data that can help alleviate suffering and eventually help develop new therapies. [Publications]
Ravi Sachidanandam, Ph. D
Co-FOUNDER and CSO
Ravi has a 20+ Year career in Genomics. Formally trained as a physicist, he is interested in all things genomics, especially the esoteric parts. This led to several inventions, including Tseek, which is the basis for ImmuneScanner. Autoimmunity is a hidden epidemic, affecting over 9 million people in the US alone.
[Publications]
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Ian Weisberger
Business/Strategy Development
Ian Weisberger is a Serial Entrepreneur and software engineer, having most recently founded a $100 million Fintech Startup. He has a very personal connection to autoimmune diseases, having been diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis at age 14.
Our motivation is personal
One member of our team is diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS). They are familiar with the rigors of treatment, feelings of helplessness, and repeated trials of prescribed drugs to determine their best options.
Together, we have developed several technologies in molecular biology to improve the accuracy and sensitivity of sequencing. These technologies are widely used in research and development in biology and health. Most recently we have developed and patented Tseek, a key component of the ImmuneScanner technology suite. Tseek enables accurate profiling of the T cell receptor repertoire, which is a key part of the early response of the adaptive immune system.
The story continues
Autoimmunity
A growing problem
Autoimmunity is an Invisible epidemic. We face an unprecedented rise of immune disorders, with multiple treatment options that can potentially cause grave harm.
Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS)
An arthritis involving long-term inflammation of the joints of the spine, usually at the spine-pelvis joint. Other joints such as the shoulders or hips maybe also exhibit symptoms, and eye and bowel problems may also occur. Mobility of affected joints generally worsens over time.
AS will be the first condition we focus upon.
Cause and incidence
Disease-causing antigens are unknown
IL17-producing CD4 T cells drive the pathology
HLA-B27 allele increases risk, present in 80% of AS+ caucasian population
3.2 million affected in the US, mostly young males
50% remain undiagnosed for over 5 years
Treatments
First-line therapies address symptoms
Second-line therapies address underlying causes
There are no cures
First-line therapies
These include physical therapy, steroids and NSAIDS (Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs e.g. Cox-2 inhibitors like Celebrex), which can alleviate pain and inflammation, but cannot stop disease progression. The drugs can have strong side-effects, such as impacting cardiovascular function.
Second-line therapies
These suppress the immune system by interfering with cytokine signaling. These can slow or stop disease progression, but does not cure. These include drugs with Anti-TNF (TNFi), Anti-IL17 or Anti-JAK (JAK inhibitor) activity. Because they act upon the immune system, the side-effects can be severe and serious, including serious infections, malignancies and other systemic failures. Extreme caution is needed when they are being used.
For more information/details on these therapies please visit this page
Tailoring treatments
Currently, treatments are customized through trial-n-error methods. Doctors and patients use subjective surveys to either continue or change treatments. Using ImmuneScanner, doctors can evaluate the patient’s unique immune system profile, and prescribe the most appropriate treatment from amongst the myriad choices that are currently available.
For more information on customizing therapies, please visit this page
The secret sauce
Technology
Multi-species
Tseek works in several model organisms enabling development of novel human therapies in models as well as translation of human therapies to model animals
Our Technology
Patented Tseek technology in combination with our database of normal human samples and longitudinal data allow training of models for clinical applications
Pet models
There is a virtuous cycle of advances in human health translating to petcare and animal models helping advance new human therapies
T cells and Tseek
What are T cells, what do they do ?
Each T cell has a set of receptors, that uniquely specify the cell. The receptors, which have almost infinite variety, define the target of each T cell. The receptors attempt to bind to peptides (protein fragments) presented by HLA molecules on the surfaces of all cells. Successful binding leads to T cell activation and the T cell multiplies, making many copies of itself. Some T cells (CD8) can directly kill cells, while other T cells (CD4) help B cells make antibodies that can neutralize viruses T cells are selected to NOT bind proteins from self. When they fail this training and turn on self, resulting in the death of cells in the targeted tissues. The damage to tissues can cause autoimmunity.
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Tseek: our technology to profile T cell diversity
Tseek is a technology invented by us, to accurately and sensitively profile the T cell receptor repertoire through sequencing. It can detect the immune response of T cells because activated T cells clonally multiply, so the responsive receptors are present in multiple copies. Thus, the frequency of responsive receptors goes up amongst the millions of distinct T cell receptors present in a sample of blood. It is easy to detect the changes through computational methods.
teasing out the signal
Studies
Study objectives and design
ImmuneScanner will identify patterns indicative of outcomes and help tailor treatments for people with autoimmune conditions
Studies
To achieve our goals, we are currently conducting human & dog observational studies, which are described below
Goals
ImmuneScanner will take the first steps to truly tailor autoimmune therapies to fit the patient. Defining objective measures of efficacy and enabling rational choice of therapies for autoimmunity are our goals.
Human Study
Our study with the Mayo Clinic is monitoring patients who are recently-diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS). The immune profiles over the course of the treatment as well as related measurements over the course of the treatment is helping train the ImmuneScanner algorithm. Once trained, ImmuneScanner will identify the best treatment options for each patient with Ankylosing Spondylitis. For this study, volunteers agree to 4 blood draws,
i) At start of treatment,
ii) 2 weeks after start of treatment,
iii) 4 weeks after start of treatment, and
iv) 16 weeks after start of treatment.
Additional data on the patients are collected as part of routine care (surveys of symptoms, additional routinely tracked markers as part of the standard care).
These data are used to train the algorithm to assist with future cases.
Dog Study
We are studying the response of the immune system to induced atopic dermatitis in dogs. We are also studying the effect of common treatments for atopic dermatitis in dogs. These will parallel our human studies, helping develop dogs as models for human auto immune conditions, as well as help improve pet care.
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