Clinical Trials

• On November 15, 2021, Tetraneuron, a company developing a multifactorial gene therapy for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, has published promising results, in collaboration with Dr. José María Frade’s research group at the Cajal Institute, part of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), results in Neurotherapeutics using on a gene therapy directed at a new therapeutic target, the transcription factor E2F4. The expression of a modified form of this protein, called E2F4DN, in neurons of an Alzheimer’s model, the 5xFAD mouse, is able to mitigate several alterations associated with the disease. The treated animals showed cognitive and behavioral improvements, attenuated neuroinflammation, reduced neuronal tetraploidy and the production of beta-amyloid peptide, and reversed the loss of body weight that this model presents, without detecting associated deleterious effects. Its ability to modulate such diverse processes associated with Alzheimer’s disease makes this molecule a promising therapeutic agent for administration in humans. Tetraneuron is currently undergoing the regulatory preclinical studies necessary to enter clinical phases in the near future. (López-Sánchez N., Garrido-García A., Ramón-Landreau M., Cano-Daganzo V. and Frade JM. (2021). E2F4-based gene therapy mitigates the phenotype of the Alzheimer’s disease mouse model 5xFAD.)  

About Tetraneuron

First Spanish biotech company accelerated by the Johnson & Johnson European Innovation Center, Tetraneuron (www.tetraneuron.com) has been developing for the last 10 years an advanced therapy for Alzheimer’s disease through a therapeutic approach focused on E2F4, a protein involved in the origin of the pathogenesis mechanism of this complicated disease. With encouraging preclinical results in AD model mice with an aggravated phenotype of the disease, the company is betting on a multifactorial approach to Alzheimer’s through a gene therapy that is expected to slow the progression of this devastating disease that currently affects more than 50 million people worldwide. Unlike other strategies, Tetraneuron provides a totally disruptive vision, addressing the global causes of the pathology. The progress of gene therapy, currently under development, is evident in some recent success stories and opens a new horizon to the possibility of curing diseases for which until now there were only treatments aimed at palliating their symptoms. In this line, Tetraneuron is also taking its vision to the development of innovative products for other neurodegenerative diseases.