Recombinant Human Interferon-Alpha 14 for the Treatment of Canine
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Received: 8 June 2020 Revised: 15 January 2021 Accepted: 3 February 2021 DOI: 10.1002/vro2.6 RESEARCH ARTICLE Recombinant human interferon-α for the treatment of canine allergic pruritic disease in eight dogs Breno C. B. Beirão, Aline C. Taraciuk Carolina Trentin Max Ingberman Luiz F. Caron Chris McKenzie William H. Stimson, 1 Imunova Análises Biológicas LTDA, Curitiba, Abstract Brazil Background: Allergic pruritic diseases are increasingly common in dogs. This group 2 Departamento de Patologia Básica, Universidade of conditions hampers life quality as pruritus progressively interferes with normal Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil behaviours. Therefore, new treatment modalities for canine allergic pruritic diseases are 3 Veterinary Consultant, Avenida Nossa Senhora necessary. While novel drugs have recently reached the market, there is still the need for de Lourdes,63, Curitiba, Brazil other therapeutic approaches. Some dogs are refractory even to the newer compounds, 4 ILC Therapeutics Ltd. Biocity, Scotland, and cost is also an important issue for these. Older therapeutic modalities are only mod- Lanarkshire, UK erately successful or have considerable secondary efects, as is the case with glucocorti- 5 Immunology Department, Strathclyde University, Glasgow, Scotland, UK coids. Objectives: Report on the use of recombinant human interferon-α14 (rhIFN-α14) for Correspondence the treatment of canine allergic pruritus. Following the experience with a similar com- BrenoC.B.Beirão,ImunovaAnálisesBiológicas pound in the Japanese market, it was expected that rhIFN-α14couldaltertheTh1/Th2 LTDA,R.ImaculadaConceição,1430,Curitiba, disbalance that drives these diseases. 80215-182, Brazil. Email: [email protected] Methods: Here, we present an uncontrolled trial in which eight dogs with clinical diag- nosis of allergic pruritus were treated with rhIFN-α14,eitherorallyorviasubcutaneous Funding information: Imunova Análises Biológi- injections. Skin condition, microbiota and anti-interferon antibody levels were assessed. casLTDA;ILCTherapeuticsLtd. Results: The parenteral use of interferon induced hypersensitivity in two of the three dogs in which it was used. The oral administration was consistently safe and could reduce signs of the allergic condition in three of the fve treated animals. Treatment also altered the skin microbiota, as verifed by next-generation sequencing. Conclusion: The present results indicate that rhIFN-α14 is a viable candidate for the treatment of canine allergic pruritus. Future controlled studies are needed, and the oral route is indicated for further trials. KEYWORDS allergic, atopic dermatitis, dog, interferon, pruritic diseases INTRODUCTION the classical clinical manifestations of hypersensitivity. The disease therefore requires long-term treatment.1 Canine allergic pruritic diseases are a common condition in Standard-of-care therapies include several possible lines of dogs, characterised by dermatosis with intense pruritus and clinical intervention. Among these, the treatment of concur- infammation. Atopic dermatitis (AD) is the primary variety rent infections, the control of allergens and the use of anti- of allergic skin conditions.1 The most common clinical man- histamines, glucocorticoids (topically or systemically) and, ifestations are dry skin, erythema and self-induced excoria- more recently, a Janus Kinase inhibitor, oclacitinib.1 In Japan, tions, commonly at the scalp, face, neck and fexural surfaces canine interferon gamma has been used in the treatment of of the extremities.2 These allergic pruritic diseases – and AD AD. The goal of the therapy is to revert the Th1/Th2 immune in particular – occur due to excessive immune responses of the disbalance that leads to excessive IgE responses.3,4 Clinical CD4 Th2 ’phenotype’.These are usually due to genetic predis- efcacy was demonstrated in dog trials having antihistamine position, but environmental factors also play a role. The acti- as the active control.5 Here,wereporttheuseofrecombi- vation of this immune pathway leads to IgE production and nant human interferon-alpha14 (rhIFNα−14) in the treatment This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ©2021TheAuthors.Veterinary Record Open published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Veterinary Association. Vet Rec Open. 2021;8:e6. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/vro2 of https://doi.org/10.1002/vro2.6 of Veterinary Record Open of canine allergic dermatitis.6 Previous work has shown the Blood samples were collected for haematological anal- molecule to interact with canine whole blood (unpublished ysis and for quantifcation of anti-interferon antibodies. data). A small-scale trial was conducted to assess safety and Samples were collected weekly whenever there was owner initial efcacy of rhIFNα-14. compliance. Therefore, sampling was not homogeneous between dogs throughout the test. Haematological analyses consisted of determination of blood cell counts, alkaline phos- MATERIALS AND METHODS phatase, urea, creatinine, total protein, protein fractions and AST levels. This was performed at the Veterinary Hospital at Thisstudywasdesignedasanopenuncontrolledtrial.Eight the Universidade Federal do Paraná. For the determination of dogs with chronic non-seasonal AD were selected. Dogs were adverse events, deviations in blood parameters that occurred enrolled based on previously published inclusion criteria.7 following drug administration were counted. ELISA for deter- Briefy, dogs had to have moderate to severe itching associated mination of canine anti-rhIFNα14 antibodies was performed with allergy based on history, clinical signs and owner com- in house. Briefy, MaxiSorp plates (Nunc) were coated with plaint. Dogs were otherwise healthy, were not in, and did not 100nginterferon/well.Theplatewasblockedwith1%casein require, active treatment for other conditions; dogs were not in phosphate bufered saline (PBS). Control wells were coated receiving and had not received immunosuppressants, antibi- with casein only. Plates were washed with PBS following each otics or antihistamines for 8 weeks prior to the study. Inclu- step. Serum was added in twofold dilutions for the deter- sion to the study was also based on elimination of resembling mination of titres. HRP-coupled anti-dog IgG was used for non-immune-mediated pruritic dermatoses by clinical assess- detection of bound antibodies (Alpha Diagnostics, 1:10,000 ment only. The owners received explanations about the trial, dilution). The reaction was developed with TMB liquid sub- andthestudyincludedthosewhoacceptedandcompletedthe strate (Life Scientifc). The absorbance of interferon-coated informed consent form. The study was performed under the wells was subtracted from the absorbance from control wells licenseoftheCommitteefortheUseofAnimalsinResearchof (coated with casein only) for the determination of specifc Imunova Análises Biológicas, protocol 003.2018. The trial was anti-interferon antibody titres. conducted according to the relevant international guidelines Long-term follow-up efcacy assessment was performed in ethics in the use of animals in research. with the best responders by communication with the owners All dogs were treated with the experimental compound. at 5 months post-trial. Owners were asked for the status of the Recombinant human interferon-alpha14 was produced in E. dogs and the time to return of pruritus. There was no clinical coli by Invigate GmbH, Jena, Germany and shown to be >98% assessmentofthedogsduringthefollow-upperiod. pure by SDS-PAGE and MS. The anti-viral bioactivity was Skin microbiota was assessed by next-generation sequenc- assessed by U-CyTech Biosciences, Utrecht, The Netherlands ing. Skin swabs were collected at treatment D0 and at the end and shown to be 1.8 × 108 IU/mg. Lyophilized interferon of the trial for three dogs. DNA was extracted from swabs was resuspended in 0.1% bovine serum albumin in saline using the ZR Fecal DNA MiniPrep (Zymo Research). The and was frozen in aliquots until the time of use. Three ani- variable V4 region of 16S rRNA was amplifed using the uni- mals received 10,000 IU/kg of rhIFNα−14 via subcutaneous versal primers 515F and 806R (Caporaso et al, 2011). PCR con- ◦ ◦ injection. The protocol for parenteral treatment consisted of ditions were as follows: 94 C,3minutes;18cyclesof94C, administration three times weekly for 4 weeks, then once 45 seconds, 50◦C, 30 seconds e 68◦C, 60 seconds; followed weekly for another 4 weeks. Five animals received the formu- by 72◦C, 10 minutes. These amplicons were then sequenced lation at the same dosage via oral administration, daily for (Illumina MiSeq). Sequencing reads were normalised at 8010 8 weeks. reads and analysed with the QIIME (Quantitative Insights ’Within-treatment’ follow-up was comprised of clinical into Microbial Ecology) platform (Caporaso et al, 2010, assessment and efcacy outcomes (veterinarian and owner 2011). Sequences were classifed into bacterial genera through assessments). Each dog was evaluated for the presence or the recognition of operational taxonomic units based on absence of papule, macula, pustules, dandruf, skin scabs, the homology at 97% of the sequences when compared to the lichenifcation, nodules, tumours, hyperkeratosis, vesicles, SILVA128 ribosomal sequence database (2017 release) (Yilmaz hyperpigmentation, erythema and alopecia by the veteri- et al, 2013). Basic