Immunomodulatory therapies for psychiatric disorders are receiving increased attention based on the study of systemic inflammation on the brain and behavior. Ace Therapeutics provides clients with neuro-immunotherapy development services to transform the precision treatment of psychiatric disorders. With our expertise in neuroimmunology, cutting-edge equipment and methodologies, we can facilitate early potential target discovery, target validation, hit compound discovery and optimization, efficacy, and preclinical safety and toxicity assessments.

Neuroimmune-Targeted Therapeutics as Promising Therapies for Psychiatric Disorders

The immune system contributes to CNS homeostasis, resilience and brain reserve. Recent studies have shown that immune dysregulation plays a role not only in classical autoimmune brain diseases such as multiple sclerosis and autoimmune encephalitis but also in psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder and depression. Pathways that are common to these disorders include microglial activation, pro-inflammatory cytokines, molecular mimicry, anti-neuronal autoantibodies, self-reactive T cells and disturbance of the blood-brain barrier. These discoveries pave the way for the development of mechanism-based neuro-immunotherapy.

Fig. 1 Immune dysregulation associated with MDD. (Drevets, W. C.; et al., 2022)

Our Neuroimmune Drug Development Services

Ace Therapeutics is a preclinical contract research organization specializing in psychiatric disorders. Our goal is to help clients develop drugs that modulate immune system activity to treat neuropsychiatric disorders with underlying immunopathology. These drugs include, but is not limited to:

• Monoclonal antibodies that neutralize cytokines or cytokine receptors.
• Compounds that regulate cytokine-inducible molecules (e.g., cyclooxygenase, prostaglandins, kynurenine metabolites).
• Molecules involved in cytokine-induced production, maturation, processing, release and downstream signaling.

With our expertise and knowledge in genomics, epigenomics, immunomics, and metabolomics, we are able to identify neuroimmune factors and inflammatory factors associated with psychiatric disorders, and uncover biomarkers for early prediction or diagnosis as possible potential therapeutic targets. Potential candidate compounds can be screened and optimized for potential targets and indications by combining our high-throughput screening technology with customized in vivo models for efficacy, safety and pharmacokinetic studies. Our one-stop drug development strategy can help our clients develop more novel and effective immune-targeted therapies to facilitate precision-targeted treatment of psychiatric disorders.

Our Capabilities

• An integrated platform for neuroinflammatory systems biology suitable for the screening of neuroinflammatory biomarkers and compounds.
• Advanced tools for drug hit discovery and structure optimization are available.
• Highly consistent customized animal models with accurate predictive validity allow comprehensive assessment of drug candidates' efficacy, safety and pharmacokinetic properties.
• Focusing drug discovery on behavioral outcomes of circuit dysfunction rather than specific mechanisms of action to improve candidate molecule success through a time-series analysis approach to motion sequencing.

Ace Therapeutics' team consists of leading experts in the fields of neurobiology, immunology and psychiatric disorders. By exploring novel pathways, targets, and treatment modalities, we strive to develop promising breakthrough therapies for psychiatric disorders. Please contact us for more details. Our experts will work with you to develop innovative neuro-immunotherapy.

References

1. Drevets, W. C.; et al. Immune targets for therapeutic development in depression: towards precision medicine. Nature reviews Drug discovery. 21.3 (2022): 224-244.
2. Scangos, K. W.; et al. New and emerging approaches to treat psychiatric disorders. Nature medicine. 29.2 (2023): 317-333.