POS0698 BIIB059 DEMONSTRATED A CONSISTENT THERAPEUTIC EFFECT ON SRI-4 RESPONSE ACROSS SUBGROUPS OF PARTICIPANTS WITH SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS IN THE LILAC PHASE 2 STUDY

Background:

Type I interferons and other inflammatory mediators derived from plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) are implicated in systemic lupus erythematous (SLE) pathology. BIIB059 is a humanized monoclonal antibody that targets blood dendritic cell antigen 2 (BDCA2), a pDC-specific receptor. The binding of BIIB059 to BDCA2 leads to rapid internalization of BDCA2 from the surface of pDCs and subsequent inhibition of interferon, cytokine, and chemokine production. In Part A of the 2-part, phase 2 LILAC study (NCT02847598), BIIB059 significantly reduced SLE activity, as evidenced by reduced total active joint count (primary endpoint) and higher SLE Responder Index (SRI-4)1 response (a secondary endpoint) versus placebo.2

Objectives:

To evaluate SRI-4 response for BIIB059 versus placebo at Week 24 in SLE participant subgroups.

Methods:

Enrollment in LILAC Part A was open to adults fulfilling ≥ 4 of 11 revised 1997 ACR criteria for classification of SLE, with ≥ 4 tender and ≥ 4 swollen joints, active skin disease, and positive lupus antibodies. Participants were randomized to receive either BIIB059 450 mg or placebo subcutaneously every 4 weeks for 20 weeks (with an additional dose at Week 2). SRI-4 response at Week 24 was analyzed in subgroups, though analyses were limited by small sample sizes and were not powered for statistical testing.

Results:

In LILAC Part A, 64 and 56 participants were dosed with BIIB059 450 mg and placebo, respectively. At week 24, SRI-4 response rate was observed in favor of BIIB059 regardless of the baseline disease activity, such as SLEDAI-2K <10 versus ≥10, presence of BILAG-2004 grade A or B arthritis, oral corticosteroid usage, positivity for anti-ds DNA autoantibody and/or complement status, with point estimates for least-squares mean differences as well as corresponding 95% CIs consistently favoring BIIB059 (Figure 1). The incidence of adverse events in the overall study population was similar between the placebo and BIIB059 groups.2

Conclusion:

BIIB059 treatment was associated with greater SRI-4 response rate, consistent among different subgroups of baseline disease activity as measured by SLEDAI-2K and BILAG-2004, glucocorticoid dosage, and serology. These findings provide additional evidence of the potential benefit of BIIB059 for the treatment of patients with active SLE.

References:

[1]Furie RA, et al. Arthritis Rheum. 2009;61(9):1143-1151. 2. Furie RA, et al. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2020;72(suppl 10). Abstract 0935.

Acknowledgements:

This study was sponsored by Biogen (Cambridge, MA, USA). Writing and editorial support was provided by Excel Scientific Solutions (Fairfield, CT, USA); funding was provided by Biogen.

Disclosure of Interests:

Ronald van Vollenhoven Consultant of: AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Biotest, Bristol Myers Squibb, Celgene, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Lilly, Medac, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, UCB, Grant/research support from: AbbVie, Arthrogen, Bristol Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Lilly, Pfizer, UCB, Richard Furie Consultant of: Biogen, Grant/research support from: Biogen, Kenneth Kalunian Consultant of: AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Biogen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Equillium, Genentech, Gilead, ILTOO, Janssen, Nektar, Roche, Viela, Grant/research support from: Lupus Research Alliance, Pfizer, Sanford Consortium, Sandra Navarra Speakers bureau: Astellas, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Pfizer, Consultant of: Biogen, Grant/research support from: Biogen, Juanita Romero-Diaz Consultant of: Biogen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Victoria Werth Consultant of: AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Biogen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, EMD Serono, Gilead, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Kyowa Kirin, Resolve, Viela, Grant/research support from: Biogen, Celgene, Gilead, Janssen, Viela, XIAOBI HUANG Shareholder of: Biogen, Employee of: Biogen, HUA CARROLL Shareholder of: Biogen, Employee of: Biogen, Cristina Musselli Shareholder of: Biogen, Employee of: Biogen, Catherine Barbey Shareholder of: Biogen, Employee of: Biogen, NATHALIE FRANCHIMONT Shareholder of: Biogen, OMass Therapeutics, Employee of: Biogen

POS0699 GREATER REDUCTION IN CLASI-A SCORES ACHIEVED WITH BIIB059 VERSUS PLACEBO INDEPENDENTLY OF DISEASE SEVERITY AT BASELINE

Background:

Patients with cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) experience symptoms including photosensitivity, rash, pain, and skin damage that can impact their quality of life. No targeted therapies are approved for CLE. BIIB059 is a humanized monoclonal antibody that targets blood dendritic cell antigen-2 (BDCA2), expressed exclusively on the surface of plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs). The binding of BIIB059 to BDCA2 leads to rapid internalization of BDCA2 from the cell surface of pDCs, thereby inhibiting the production of pDC-derived type I interferons, cytokines, and chemokines, which are involved in CLE pathology. In Part B of the 2-part, phase 2 LILAC study (NCT02847598), the primary endpoint was met: BIIB059 significantly reduced CLE activity, as evidenced by a statistically significant dose response and statistically significant differences in least-squares mean percent changes in Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus Disease Area and Severity Index – Activity (CLASI-A) score1 versus placebo.2

Objectives:

To determine the proportion of patients with CLE who presented at baseline with moderate or severe disease (CLASI-A ≥ 10) or with the higher category of mild disease (CLASI-A < 10 [i.e., 8 or 9]) and experienced a shift in CLASI-A score to a mild skin disease category or clear/almost clear skin status.

Methods:

Adults with histologically confirmed CLE with or without systemic manifestations were enrolled if they had CLASI-A ≥ 8 at baseline, despite prior use of or intolerance to topical corticosteroids (CS) and/or antimalarials, in addition to ≥ 1 lesion diagnostic of subacute CLE (CLASI-A erythema score ≥ 2) and/or chronic CLE (CLASI-A erythema score ≥ 2 and CLASI-Damage scarring score ≥1). Concomitant CLE/SLE therapy was allowed if doses were initiated ≥ 12 weeks and kept stable ≥ 4 weeks before randomization and throughout the treatment period. Systemic corticosteroid doses could not exceed 15 mg/day of prednisone (or equivalent). BIIB059 (50, 150, 450 mg) or placebo was subcutaneously administered once every 4 weeks for 12 weeks, with an additional dose at Week 2. An ad hoc analysis was conducted to determine the proportion of participants (CLASI-A ≥ 10 or < 10 at baseline) with a shift in CLASI-A score to ≤ 1, ≤ 3, ≤ 6, and ≤ 8 at Week 16.

Results:

In this ad hoc analysis from LILAC Part B, 106 (80.3%) and 26 (19.7%) of participants had a baseline CLASI-A score ≥ 10 and < 10, respectively. Compared with placebo, higher proportions of participants treated with BIIB059 achieved a shift in CLASI-A score from either ≥ 10 or < 10 at baseline to ≤ 1, ≤ 3, ≤ 6, and ≤ 8 at Week 16 (Figure 1). Treatment with BIIB059 resulted in higher proportions of participants achieving reduced scores, indicating shifts to more mild disease activity, compared with placebo. A score ≤ 1 (clear or almost clear skin) at Week 16 was achieved by 0.0% (0/25), 5.0% (1/20), 14.3% (3/21), and 12.5% (5/40) of participants with baseline CLASI-A ≥ 10 who were treated with placebo and BIIB059 50, 150, and 450 mg, respectively. Two of 26 participants with baseline CLASI-A < 10 achieved a score ≤ 1 (both received BIIB059 150 mg).

Conclusion:

A greater proportion of participants achieved milder skin disease or clear/almost clear skin status in the BIIB059 groups as compared with the placebo group. This effect was observed in participants with moderate or severe disease as well as in those in the higher range of the mild category of disease severity at baseline, indicating the ability of BIIB059 to improve skin lesions in patients with a broad range of cutaneous disease activity.

References:

[1]Albrecht J, et al. J Invest Dermatol. 2005;125(5):889-894.

[2]Werth V, et al. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2020;72(suppl 10). Abstract 0986.

Acknowledgements:

This study was sponsored by Biogen (Cambridge, MA, USA). Writing and editorial support was from Excel Scientific Solutions (Fairfield, CT, USA); funding was provided by Biogen.

Disclosure of Interests:

Victoria Werth Consultant of: AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Biogen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, EMD Serono, Gilead, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Kyowa Kirin, Resolve, Viela, Grant/research support from: Biogen, Celgene, Gilead, Janssen, Viela, Richard Furie Consultant of: AstraZeneca, Biogen, Grant/research support from: AstraZeneca, Biogen, Kenneth Kalunian Consultant of: AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Biogen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Equillium, Genentech, Gilead, ILTOO, Janssen, Nektar, Roche, Viela, Grant/research support from: Lupus Research Alliance, Pfizer, Sanford Consortium, Ronald van Vollenhoven Consultant of: AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Biotest, Bristol Myers Squibb, Celgene, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Lilly, Medac, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, UCB, Grant/research support from: AbbVie, Arthrogen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Lilly, Pfizer, UCB, Sandra Navarra Speakers bureau: Astellas, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Pfizer, Consultant of: Biogen, Filippa Nyberg Consultant of: Biogen, Juanita Romero-Diaz Consultant of: Biogen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Michael Tee Speakers bureau: Pfizer, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, Celltrion, Consultant of: Neovacs, Grant/research support from: Celltrion, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, XIAOBI HUANG Shareholder of: Biogen, Employee of: Biogen, HUA CARROLL Shareholder of: Biogen, Employee of: Biogen, Catherine Barbey Shareholder of: Biogen, Employee of: Biogen, Cristina Musselli Shareholder of: Biogen, Employee of: Biogen, NATHALIE FRANCHIMONT Shareholder of: Biogen, OMass Therapeutics, Employee of: Biogen

OP0193 BIIB059, A HUMANIZED MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY TARGETING BDCA2 ON PLASMACYTOID DENDRITIC CELLS (PDC), SHOWS DOSE-RELATED EFFICACY IN THE PHASE 2 LILAC STUDY IN PATIENTS (PTS) WITH ACTIVE CUTANEOUS LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS (CLE)

Background:

CLE represents an unmet medical need with no approved therapy. BIIB059, a humanized monoclonal antibody, binds to BDCA2 and inhibits pro-inflammatory mediators production, including type I interferons. BIIB059 was evaluated in Phase 1 studiesNCT02106897andNCT03224793. LILAC is a 2-part Phase 2 study: Part A enrolled SLE pts; Part B enrolled pts with active CLE (NCT02847598).

Objectives:

Evaluate efficacy and safety of BIIB059 in pts enrolled in Part B at Week 16, end of treatment (EOT) period.

Methods:

Pts with active CLE, SCLE and/or CCLE and adjudicated Cutaneous Lupus Disease Area and Severity Index – Activity (CLASI-A) ≥8 were enrolled and randomized to receive either BIIB059 (50, 150 or 450 mg) or placebo (PBO) s.c. Q4W. Primary endpoint was dose response defined by % change in CLASI-A score from baseline (BL) to Week 16. Secondary endpoints included CLASI-50 response rate and ≥ 7-point reduction in CLASI-A score from baseline to EOT. Adverse events and serious adverse events were recorded throughout the study.

Results:

132 pts with active CLE were randomized. The study met its primary endpoint, demonstrating a dose response (p= 0.0005) and a statistically significant difference in % change from BL in CLASI-A score in BIIB059-treated pts vs PBO. Table 1 and Table 2 summarize efficacy and safety results, respectively.

Table 1.

Efficacy Endpoints

BIIB059PBO50 mg150 mg450 mgLS Mean (SE)LS Mean (SE)LSMD*from PBO (95% CI)P val.LS Mean(SE)LSMD*from PBO (95% CI)P val.LS Mean(SE)LSMD*from PBO (95% CI)P val.Primary EndpointCLASI-A % change from BL-14.5 (6.4)-40.8 (7.5)-26.3 (-45.7; -7.0)0.008-47.9 (7.4)-33.5 (-52.7; -14.3)0.001-43.5 (5.5)-28.0 (-44.5; -11.5)0.001Secondary Endpointsn(%)n(%)LSMD*from PBO (95% CI)P val.n(%)LSMD*from PBO (95% CI)P val.n(%)LSMD*from PBO (95% CI)P val.Prop. of participants achieving CLASI 507/32 (21.9%)10/26 (38.5%)15.8% (-7; 39)0.13311/25 (44.0%)21 (-2.8; 45)0.05920/43 (46.5%)23 (3; 44)0.024Prop. of participants achieving a ≥7-point CLASI-A reduction from BL7/32 (21.9%)9/26 (34.6%)12.3 (-11.3; 35.8)0.22812/25 (48.0%)22.2 (-2.0; 46.3)0.05518/43 (41.8%)16.8 (-6.7; 40.4)0.048

*LSMD=LS Mean Difference

PBOBIIB059OVERALLN=3350 mgN=26150 mgN=25450 mgN=48PooledN=99N=132Any Event, n(%)18 (54.5)17 (65.4)12 (48)33 (68.8)62 (62.6)80 (60.6)SeverityMild11 (33.3)11 (42.3)8 (32.0)19 (39.6)38 (38.4)49 (37.1)Moderate4 (12.1)6 (23.1)3 (12.0)12 (25.0)21 (21.2)25 (18.9)Severe3 (9.1)01 (4.0)2 (4.2)3 (3.0)6 (4.5)Related events6 (18.2)9 (34.6)4 (16.0)16 (33.3)29 (29.3)35 (26.5)Serious events2 (6.1)03 (12.0)2 (4.2)5 (5.1)7 (5.3)Related serious events1 (3.0)01 (4.0)1 (2.1)2 (2.0)3 (2.3)Events leading to drug withdrawal01 (3.8)1 (4.0)1 (2.1)3 (3.0)3 (2.3)Events leading to study withdrawal0001 (2.1)1 (1.0)1 (0.8)Fatal events000000

Conclusion:

BIIB059 administration to pts with active CLE resulted in statistically significant dose-related improvement in disease activity vs PBO with no untoward safety signals. Further development of BIIB059 in CLE is warranted.

Disclosure of Interests:

Victoria Werth Grant/research support from: Biogen, Celgene, Gilead, Janssen, Viela, Consultant of: Biogen, Gilead, Janssen, Abbvie, GSK, Resolve, AstraZeneca, Amgen, Eli Lilly, EMD Serono, BMS, Viela, Kyowa Kirin, Richard Furie Grant/research support from: AstraZeneca, Biogen, Consultant of: AstraZeneca, Biogen, Juanita Romero-Diaz Consultant of: Biogen, Sandra Navarra Speakers bureau: Astellas, Novartis, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Abbvie, Kenneth Kalunian Grant/research support from: Pfizer, Lupus Research Alliance, Sanford Consortium, Consultant of: Genentech, Nektar, BMS, Janssen, AstraZeneca, Biogen, Vielabio, Equillium, Eli Lilly, ILTOO, Abbvie, Amgen, Roche, Gilead, Ronald van Vollenhoven Grant/research support from: AbbVie, Arthrogen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Lilly, Pfizer, and UCB, Consultant of: AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Biotest, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, GSK, Janssen, Lilly, Medac, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, and UCB, Filippa Nyberg Consultant of: Biogen, Benjamin Kaffenberger Grant/research support from: Amgen, Biogen, InflaRx, Veloce Biopharmaceuticals, Dermatology Foundation, Saira Sheikh: None declared, Goran Radunovic: None declared, XIAOBI HUANG Shareholder of: Biogen, Employee of: Biogen, HUA CARROLL Shareholder of: Biogen, Employee of: Biogen, Francois Gaudreault Shareholder of: Biogen, Employee of: Biogen, Adam Meyers Shareholder of: Biogen, Employee of: Biogen, Catherine Barbey Shareholder of: Biogen, Employee of: Biogen, Cristina Musselli Shareholder of: Biogen, Employee of: Biogen, NATHALIE FRANCHIMONT Shareholder of: Biogen, Employee of: Biogen

Potential exposure to Australian bat lyssavirus is unlikely to prevent future bat handling among adults in South East Queensland

Despite ongoing public health messages about the risks associated with bat contact, the number of potential exposures to Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV) due to intentional handling by members of the general public in Queensland has remained high. We sought to better understand the reasons for intentional handling among these members of the public who reported their potential exposure to inform future public health messages. We interviewed adults who resided in a defined geographic area in South East Queensland and notified potential exposure to ABLV due to intentional handling of bats by telephone between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2013. The participation rate was 54%. Adults who reported they had intentionally handled bats in South East Queensland indicated high levels of knowledge and perception of a moderately high risk associated with bats with overall low intentions to handle bats in the future. However, substantial proportions of people would attempt to handle bats again in some circumstances, particularly to protect their children or pets. Fifty-two percent indicated that they would handle a bat if a child was about to pick up or touch a live bat, and 49% would intervene if a pet was interacting with a bat. Future public health communications should recognize the situations in which even people with highrisk perceptions of bats will attempt to handle them. Public health messages currently focus on avoidance of bats in all circumstances and recommend calling in a trained vaccinated handler, but messaging directed at adults for circumstances where children or pets may be potentially exposed should provide safe immediate management options.

Analysis of long branch extraction and long branch shortening

BACKGROUND

Long branch attraction (LBA) is a problem that afflicts both the parsimony and maximum likelihood phylogenetic analysis techniques. Research has shown that parsimony is particularly vulnerable to inferring the wrong tree in Felsenstein topologies. The long branch extraction method is a procedure to detect a data set suffering from this problem so that Maximum Likelihood could be used instead of Maximum Parsimony.

RESULTS

The long branch extraction method has been well cited and used by many authors in their analysis but no strong validation has been performed as to its accuracy. We performed such an analysis by an extensive search of the branch length search space under two topologies of six taxa, a Felsenstein-like topology and Farris-like topology. We also examine a long branch shortening method.

CONCLUSIONS

The long branch extraction method seems to mask the majority of the search space rendering it ineffective as a detection method of LBA. A proposed alternative, the long branch shortening method, is also ineffective in predicting long branch attraction for all tree topologies.

Mutational Disruption of the Biosynthesis Genes Coding for the Antifungal Metabolite 2,4-Diacetylphloroglucinol Does Not Influence the Ecological Fitness of Pseudomonas fluorescens F113 in the Rhizosphere of Sugarbeets

The ability of Pseudomonas fluorescens F113 to produce the antibiotic 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol (DAPG) is a key factor in the biocontrol of the phytopathogenic fungus Pythium ultimum by this strain. In this study, a DAPG-producing strain (rifampin-resistant mutant F113Rif) was compared with a nearly isogenic DAPG-negative biosynthesis mutant (Tn5::lacZY derivative F113G22) in terms of the ability to colonize and persist in the rhizosphere of sugarbeets in soil microcosms during 10 plant growth-harvest cycles totaling 270 days. Both strains persisted similarly in the rhizosphere for 27 days, regardless of whether they had been inoculated singly onto seeds or coinoculated in a 1:1 ratio. In order to simulate harvest and resowing, the roots were removed from the soil and the pots were resown with uninoculated sugarbeet seeds for nine successive 27-day growth-harvest cycles. Strains F113Rif and F113G22 performed similarly with respect to colonizing the rhizosphere of sugarbeet, even after nine cycles without reinoculation. The introduced strains had a transient effect on the size of the total culturable aerobic bacterial population. The results indicate that under these experimental conditions, the inability to produce DAPG did not reduce the ecological fitness of strain F113 in the rhizosphere of sugarbeets.

PathGen: a transitive gene pathway generator

SUMMARY

Many online sources of gene interaction networks supply rich visual data regarding gene pathways that can aid in the study of biological processes, disease research and drug discovery. PathGen incorporates data from several sources to create transitive connections that span multiple gene interaction databases. Results are displayed in a comprehensible graphical format, showing gene interaction type and strength, database source and microarray expression data. These features make PathGen a valuable tool for in silico discovery of novel gene interaction pathways, which can be experimentally tested and verified. The usefulness of PathGen interaction analyses was validated using genes connected to the altered facial development related to Down syndrome.

AVAILABILITY

http://dna.cs.byu.edu/pathgen.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. Further information is available at http://dna.cs.byu.edu/pathgen/PathGenSupplemental.pdf.

Parsimony accelerated maximum likelihood searches

Phylogenetic search is a key tool used in a variety of biological research endeavours. However, this search problem is known to be computationally difficult, due to the astronomically large search space, making the use of heuristic methods necessary. The performance of heuristic methods for finding Maximum Likelihood (ML) trees can be improved by using parsimony as an initial estimator for ML. The time spent in performing the parsimony search to boost performance is insignificant compared to the time spent in the ML search, leading to an overall gain in search time. These parsimony boosted ML searches lead to topologies with scores statistically similar to the unboosted searches, but in less time.

DNA reference alignment benchmarks based on tertiary structure of encoded proteins

MOTIVATION

Multiple sequence alignments (MSAs) are at the heart of bioinformatics analysis. Recently, a number of multiple protein sequence alignment benchmarks (i.e. BAliBASE, OXBench, PREFAB and SMART) have been released to evaluate new and existing MSA applications. These databases have been well received by researchers and help to quantitatively evaluate MSA programs on protein sequences. Unfortunately, analogous DNA benchmarks are not available, making evaluation of MSA programs difficult for DNA sequences.

RESULTS

This work presents the first known multiple DNA sequence alignment benchmarks that are (1) comprised of protein-coding portions of DNA (2) based on biological features such as the tertiary structure of encoded proteins. These reference DNA databases contain a total of 3545 alignments, comprising of 68 581 sequences. Two versions of the database are available: mdsa_100s and mdsa_all. The mdsa_100s version contains the alignments of the data sets that TBLASTN found 100% sequence identity for each sequence. The mdsa_all version includes all hits with an E-value score above the threshold of 0.001. A primary use of these databases is to benchmark the performance of MSA applications on DNA data sets. The first such case study is included in the Supplementary Material.

Lumican regulates collagen fibril assembly: skin fragility and corneal opacity in the absence of lumican

Lumican, a prototypic leucine-rich proteoglycan with keratan sulfate side chains, is a major component of the cornea, dermal, and muscle connective tissues. Mice homozygous for a null mutation in lumican display skin laxity and fragility resembling certain types of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. In addition, the mutant mice develop bilateral corneal opacification. The underlying connective tissue defect in the homozygous mutants is deregulated growth of collagen fibrils with a significant proportion of abnormally thick collagen fibrils in the skin and cornea as indicated by transmission electron microscopy. A highly organized and regularly spaced collagen fibril matrix typical of the normal cornea is also missing in these mutant mice. This study establishes a crucial role for lumican in the regulation of collagen assembly into fibrils in various connective tissues. Most importantly, these results provide a definitive link between a necessity for lumican in the development of a highly organized collagenous matrix and corneal transparency.