8:25 am Chair’s Opening Remarks

  • Aaron Winkler Immune Tolerance Lead, Inflammation & Immunology, Pfizer

Harnessing Autoantibody Signatures and Mapping Out the B&T Cell-Mediated Autoimmune Disease Landscape

9:00 am Systemic vs. Organ-Specific Autoimmune Disease: Unique Challenges & Opportunities

Synopsis

  • Overview of systemic vs. organ-specific autoimmunity using SLE and stage 2 T1D as examples, relating to “mainstream” vs. rare autoimmune disease states
  • Central and peripheral tolerance mechanisms of these diseases
  • Exploiting the disease process – successes and remaining challenges

9:30 am Panel Discussion:Mapping the Therapeutic Target Landscape for B-Cell Mediated Autoimmune Disease & T-Cell Dependent Autoantibody Responses

  • Robert Axtell Associate Member, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
  • Lucian Visan Head of Biomarkers & Translational Medicine, Imcyse

Synopsis

  • Assessing the depletion of B-cells with anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies
  • Exploring how to best target CD8 T suppressor cells
  • Discussing the various autoantigen specific B cell depleting and modulating therapies (CAART, BTK inhibitors, anti-CD20), targeting T-cell co-stimulatory pathways (CD40/CD40L, CD28/CTLA-4, OX40, ICOS, PD-1), and subduing autoantibody (FcRn inhibitors) approaches

10:00 am T Cell Biomarkers in Autoimmunity for Target Discovery & Treatment Monitoring

  • Alex Dahmani Director, Business Development, Adaptive Biotech

Synopsis

  • Use T-cell repertoire to determine HLA type for high-risk alleles
  • Monitor-T cell response to immune modifying therapies as a biomarker of activity
  • Map T-cell clones to self-antigens to identify disease targets and track antigenspecific response to therapy

10:30 am
Speed Networking & Morning Break

Synopsis

This session is the ideal opportunity to network and forge meaningful business relationships with many of the brightest minds working in the B & T cell field, face to-face for the first time

11:00 am The InhiBETTM Platform: Bromodomain and End Terminal (BET) Inhibitors in Autoimmune Disease

  • Iain Stuart Chief Scientific Officer, Vyne Therapeutics

Synopsis

  • Review BET protein antagonism and MoA in autoimmune disease, what have we learned?
  • Explore drug design and disposition strategies to optimize benefit/risk of BET inhibitors
  • Introducing VYN201, a highly potent BD1/BD2 BET protein inhibitor, for locallyacting treatment of major immuno-inflammatory

Highlighting T-Cell Interactions & Nanoparticle-Based Interactions for Immune Tolerance

11:30 am Precision Medicine for Autoimmunity – Mechanism of Action for CAAR T cell Therapy and Applications to B Cell-Mediated Autoimmune Diseases

  • Samik Basu Chief Scientific Officer, Cabaletta Bio

Synopsis

  • Review mechanism of action for the CAAR T platform that is designed to recognize and eliminate only the B cells that cause the autoimmune disease in patients
  • Discuss progress in DesCAARTes trial of DSG3-CAART and preclinical development for select pipeline programs
  • Share rationale for indication prioritization and along with preclinical development path for new product candidates

12:00 pm A Novel NanoDisc Platform for Induction of Antigen-Specific Immune Tolerance

  • James Moon Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer, Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, EVOQ Therapeutics, University of Michigan

Synopsis

  • Examine how subcutaneous administration of NanoDisc targets multiple lymphoid tissues and immune system organs
  • Discover how NanoDisc carrying autoantigens induce antigen-specific T-Regs and Tr1 cells, while reducing autoreactive IgG response
  • Learn how NanoDisc therapy exerts robust efficacy in preclinical models of Multiple Sclerosis and Type 1 Diabetes

12:30 pm Manipulation of Apoptosis for Induction of Antigen-specific T-regs to Treat Autoimmunity

  • Wanjun Chen Principle National Investigator, Nation Institute of Health

Synopsis

  • Inducing specific immunotherapy to autoimmunity without compromising overall immune responses
  • Explore how to induce autoantigen-specific Tregs in animals, and ultimately in patients with established autoimmune disease
  • Learn about the manipulation of the apoptosis of immune cells with antibodies and nanoparticles together with administration of autoantigens

1:00 pm
Lunch & Networking

2:00 pm Synergistic activity of IL-2 mutein with tolerogenic ImmTOR nanoparticles with leads to massive expansion of antigen-specific Tregs

Synopsis

  • Engineered IL-2 molecules selective for the high affinity IL-2 receptor expressedon Tregs have been shown to non-selectively expand Tregs in vivo and are being developed for the treatment of autoimmune diseases
  • We have developed tolerogenic nanoparticles that have been shown to induce antigen-specific immune tolerance and are in Phase 3 clinical trials in
    combination with a highly immunogenic fungal-derived uricase enzyme for the treatment of uncontrolled gout
  • Here we demonstrate that ImmTOR combined with a Treg-selective IL-2 molecule shows profound synergistic activity in animal studies resulting in massive expansion of antigen-specific Tregs

2:30 pm A nanomedicine approach to treat autoimmune disease leverages a natural differentiation pathway of T regulatory-1 (TR1) cells.

  • Brendan Classon Executive VP, Research & Development, Parvus Therapeutics

Synopsis

  • T-follicular helper (TFH) cells can serve as in vivo precursors of TR1 cells in humans and in mice
  • Complete differentiation of TR1 effector function requires the transcription factor Blimp-1 (Prdm1)
  • Navacims, a pMHC-II nanomedicine platform induce TFH expansion and differentiation to immunomodulatory TR1 cells

3:00 pm A nanoparticle platform for multiple immune tolerance therapies

Synopsis

  • Broad therapeutic potential of our proprietary Topas Particle Conjugates delivering peptide antigens to special liver cells
  • Diverse mechanism-of-action through different immune pathways to rebalance the immune system
  • Pemphigus vulgaris and Celiac disease as strong clinical models

3:30 pm
Afternoon Break

Comparing the Efficacy of Small Molecule Targeting on Signaling Pathways & their Impact on Autoimmune Diseases

4:00 pm Investigating GB7208: An Oral, CNS-Penetrant, Irreversible BTK inhibitor for the Treatment of Neuroinflammatory Diseases

Synopsis

  • Learn how BTK inhibitors are actively being explored in inflammatory diseases
  • Discover how they are characterized by modest selectivity and/or limited central nervous system (CNS) penetrance
  • Assess GB7208, an orally available, selective, irreversible small molecule BTK inhibitor which has been selected based on its potency, specificity, and high brain penetrance in preclinical models

4:30 pm Exploring NX-5948: A CNS Penetrant Selective Degrader of BTK that Significantly Reduces Inflammation in Mouse Models of Autoimmune Disease

  • Ryan Rountree Sr. Director, Preclinical Pharmacology, Nurix Therapeutics

Synopsis

  • Uncover NX-5948, a highly potent, CNS penetrant, targeted protein degrader of BTK in Phase 1 clinical development for B cell malignancies
  • Evaluate how daily oral administration of NX-5948 provides efficacy in multiple preclinical models of autoimmune disease
  • Learn how NX-5948 preclinical data supports further exploration of NX-5948 to treat autoimmune diseases

5:00 pm Cell Therapy Approaches for the Treatment of Autoimmune Diseases

Synopsis

  • Discovering how cell therapy approaches offer the potential to transform the care of patients with refractory autoimmune diseases
  • Review how cells can be engineered to either delete (e.g. car t approaches) or suppress the autoreactive immune system (e.g. Tregs approaches)
  • Exploring how the background of patients with autoimmune disease differs from oncology patients, and how this influences their approach when being introduced in the clinic

5:30 pm Chair’s Closing Remarks