Cancer drugs could target autoimmune diseases

Drugs currently being trialled in cancer patients have been used to successfully target an autoimmune condition in mice at UCL and King's College London. The study, published in Cell Reports, involved giving cancer drugs to mice and inducing uveitis, an incurable autoimmune eye condition responsible for 1 in every 10 cases of visual impairment in the UK*. The condition was significantly less severe in mice given the cancer drugs. Current treatment options are limited and can cause further visual problems including cataracts. "We tested this approach on the uveitis model as a proof of principle, but it should also be applicable to other autoimmune conditions," says co-senior author Dr Richard Jenner (UCL Cancer Institute). "The drugs that we used in this study would be too toxic for long term use in the bloodstream, so we are now hoping to test more localised approaches such as eye drops to treat uveitis." The team tested the drugs on uveitis after discovering that a genetic 'key' involved in cancer cell growth is also important for immune cells. Using whole-genome sequencing, they found that immune cells needed this 'key' to become specialised'T helper cells.