Crain’s Cleveland Business is reporting that a Cleveland researcher has been awarded a five-year, $1.9 million federal grant to explore whether a member of the interleukin-17 family may play a role in the development and progression of psoriasis.

Nicole Ward

Nicole Ward, an assistant professor of dermatology in Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine, is investigating interleukin-17C, a protein that regulates the immune system. The grant will allow her to build upon earlier research suggesting a relationship between IL-17C and another protein (called TNF-alpha) in the emergence of psoriasis, according to a press release.

The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, a division of the National Institutes of Health, bestowed the award.

Earlier this year, Ward and colleagues published an article in the Journal of Immunology that reported psoriasis patients have elevated levels of IL-17C in their skin. Following treatment with TNF-alpha inhibitors, a standard therapy, IL-17C levels drop rapidly, even before the skin visibly improves. This development suggests that the presence, or interaction, of IL17-C and TNF-alpha are critical for the pathogenesis of the disease.

Ward and her colleagues also found that mice genetically engineered to overproduce IL-17C in the skin develop spontaneous lesions that resemble human psoriasis, suggesting a potential critical role for this molecule in disease initiation.. She now hopes to identify how IL-17C synergizes with other inflammatory molecules to cause disease—an understanding that may help identify a new target for drug development.

Injectable treatments focusing on interleukin-17 that are in Phase III of the research pipeline are:

• Brodalumab, Amgen

• Ixekizumab, Eli Lilly

• Secukinumab, Novartis

(MK-3222 from Merck targets interleukin-23. Stelara, from Janssen, targets interleukin-12 and interleukin-23.)

The research will be directed by Ward with collaborators and co-authors of the Journal of Immunology paper, Thomas McCormick, PhD, of Case Western Reserve, and Johann Gudjonsson, MD, PhD, and Andrew Johnston, PhD, of the University of Michigan.

In addition to the NIAMS grant, Ward’s research is supported by the National Psoriasis Foundation, the Murdough Family Center for Psoriasis and additional grants from the National Institutes of Health.

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