ERAP1 at the ACR 2015 Meeting in San Francisco

There has been one publication on ERAP1 at the ACR 2015 Annual Meeting in San Francisco. ERAP1 (endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidase 1) has a strong genetic association of with ankylosing spondylitis, which is restricted to HLA-B27 positive cases. I’ve become interested while being at the 2014 EULAR Meeting in Paris. And now we have a new tiny piece of evidence that there might be a drug in the far future.

Tri M. Tran and colleagues presented: “ERAP1 Deficiency Protects HLA-B27 Transgenic Rats from Arthritis”. Conclusion: “Complete absence of ERAP1 protected B27-TG rats from arthritis, but led to an increase in gut inflammation, suggesting different effects on pathogenic mechanisms involved in arthritis and colitis. B27-TG rats heterologous for ERAP1 exhibited higher incidence of arthritis concomitant with lower inflammation in the gut as compared to ERAP1-/- .This novel model provides an opportunity to better understand the mechanism(s) by which HLA-B27 contributes to SpA pathogenesis”.

Protection from arthritis, but increase in gut inflammation. What goes through my mind now? Far future, individually tailored therapy, basic science … Yes, and far too early to speculate on a new drug.

References:

Tran TM, Hong S, Gill T, Bennett J, Sikora K, Colbert RA. ERAP1 Deficiency Protects HLA-B27 Transgenic Rats from Arthritis [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2015; 67 (suppl 10). http://acrabstracts.org/abstract/erap1-deficiency-protects-hla-b27-transgenic-rats-from-arthritis/. Accessed November 20, 2015.

ERAP1 at the EULAR 2014 Meeting in Paris http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2014/07/erap1-at-eular-2014-meeting-in-paris.html