Science & Technology
EVOQ Therapeutics is pioneering the development of a proprietary technology that represents a genuine breakthrough in treating autoimmune disease.
What causes autoimmune disease?
Autoimmune disease occurs when the body’s natural immune tolerance system fails to work properly. This system failure results in immune system activation against tissues and cells that would normally be safe from attack. This inappropriate activation is the root cause of many devastating diseases including – Type 1 Diabetes, Celiac disease, Multiple sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Primary Biliary Cholangitis, and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.
Who are the key players?
It has long been known that dendritic cells (DCs) – the professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs) of the immune system – play a central role in orchestrating an appropriate immune response either towards immune tolerance, or immune activation.
Compared to other APCs, such as B cells and macrophages, dendritic cells are considered to be the most versatile and efficient APCs because of their unique ability to control both immune tolerance and cell-mediated immune activation.
When appropriately stimulated, dendritic cells polarize responding T cells towards anti-inflammatory, regulatory T cells (Tregs), and promote the upregulation of anti-inflammatory cytokines, ultimately establishing and maintaining the desired state of immune tolerance and the protection of self-tissue and organ systems.
For someone with autoimmune disease - the immune tolerance system is broken and their dendritic cells orchestrate inappropriate cell-mediated immune activation. This results in important tissues and cells being mistakenly identified as “foreign” or “non-self” - which then leads to the activation of antigen specific CD4+ and CD8+ cytotoxic T cells, and upregulation of inflammatory cytokines. Ultimately the antigen specific T cells seek out and destroy the cells and tissues mistakenly identified as “foreign or non-self” .
How do we restore immune tolerance?
To restore immune tolerance, you must focus first on the THE key player - the Dendritic cell.
Dendritic cells (DCs) reside in tissues throughout the body, including lymph nodes, liver and spleen. Activated DCs in the lymph nodes are particularly important in initiating an appropriate immune response.
Unlike other approaches, EVOQ’s proprietary NanoDisc technology has been engineered to selectively target dendritic cells throughout the body. First in the lymph nodes, then the liver, the spleen and other tissues where DCs reside. This comprehensive coverage greatly enhances the desired immune response with up to 30 times greater effectiveness versus other methods.
In addition, whereas other approaches are forced to use IV injections to achieve only partial coverage, EVOQ's therapy achieves comprehensive coverage with a simple, patient-friendly subcutaneous injection.
Proven in preclinical models for diseases like Type 1 Diabetes, Multiple Sclerosis, and Lupus, our approach offers a promising new path for targeted autoimmune disease therapy.
Our
Approach
EVOQ Therapeutics is pioneering the development of a proprietary technology that represents a genuine breakthrough for autoimmune disease therapy
Autoimmune Disease Vaccines
EVOQ's technology has demonstrated breakthrough efficacy in the gold-standard preclinical models of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Type-1 Diabetes (T1D). Success with these preclinical models is considered proof of concept for the potential utility of our therapy in a wide range of autoimmune diseases.
With prevalence on the rise, autoimmune diseases have a devastating impact on the lives of 23.5 million Americans, and millions more children and adults around the world.
Examples of diseases EVOQ is investigating include:
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Type 1 Diabetes
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Celiac disease
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Multiple sclerosis
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Neuromyelitis Optica
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MOG Antibody Disease
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Rheumatoid arthritis
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Primary Biliary Cholangitis
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Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
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Myasthenia gravis
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Pemphigus
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Graves' disease
EVOQ’s proprietary NanoDisc technology has been specifically designed to deliver the comprehensive coverage necessary to restore immune tolerance by targeting dendritic cells in lymph nodes, liver, and spleen.
Publications
Explore the latest research from EVOQ Therapeutics, featuring cutting-edge studies on immunotherapy and nanomedicine. Our featured publications highlight advances in targeting cancer stem cells, enhancing T-cell responses, and developing personalized vaccines using nanodisc technology for improved cancer and autoimmune therapies.
Cancer Immunotherapy via Targeting Cancer Stem Cells Using Vaccine Nanodiscs
Hassani Najafabadi A, Zhang J, Aikins ME, Najaf Abadi ZI, Liao F, Qin Y, Okeke EB, Scheetz LM, Nam J, Xu Y, Adams D, Lester P, Hetrick T, Schwendeman A, Wicha MS, Chang AE, Li Q, and Moon JJ.
Nano Letters
doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c03414, 2020
High-Density Lipoprotein-Mimicking NanoDiscs for Chemo-immunotherapy against Glioblastoma Multiforma
Padma Kadiyala, Dan Li, Fernando M. Nuñez, David Altshuler, Robert Doherty, Rui Kuai, Minzhi Yu, Neha Kamran, Marta Edwards, James J. Moon, Pedro R. Lowenstein, Maria G. Castro, Anna Schwendeman
ACS NANO
2019, 13, 1365-1384
Kuai R, Yuan W, Son S, Nam J, Xu Y, Fan Y, Schwendeman A, and Moon JJ
Science Advances
4, eaao1736, 2018
Kuai R, Li D, Chen YE, Moon JJ, and Schwendeman A
ACS NANO
10, 3, 3015-41, 2016
Kuai R, Singh PB, Sun X, Xu C, Najafabadi Hassani A, Scheetz L, Yuan W, Xu Y, Hong H, Keskin DB, Wu CJ, Jain R, Schwendeman A, and Moon JJ
Advanced Therapeutics
doi: 10.1002/adtp.202000094, 2020
Jutaek Nam, Sejin Son, Kyung Soo Park, Weiping Zou, Lonnie D. Shea, and James J. Moon
Nature Reviews Materials
Vol. 4, 398-414, June 2019
Kuai R, Sun X, Yuan W, Xu Y, Schwendeman A and Moon JJ
Bioconjugate Chemistry
29 (3), 771-775, 2018
Kuai R, Ochyl LJ, Schwendeman A, and Moon JJ
Biomedical Engineering: Frontier Research and Converging Technologies
Springer, Edited by Drs. Jo, Jun, Shin, and Lee. 9, 177-197, 2015
Scheetz L, Kadiyala P, Sun X, Son S, Najafabadi AH, Aikins, M, Lowenstein PR, Schwendeman A, Castro MG, and Moon JJ
Clinical Cancer Research
doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-20-0341, 2020
Lindsay Scheetz, Kyung Soo Park, Qiao Li, Pedro R. Lowenstein, Maria G. Castro, Anna Schwendeman, and James J. Moon
Nature Biomedical Engineering
August 2019
Kuai R, Ochyl LJ, Bahjat KS, Schwendeman A and Moon JJ
Nature Materials
16 (4), 489-496, 2017
Contact Us
Have questions or want to learn more about our work? We’d love to hear from you! Whether you're a potential partner, researcher, or someone interested in our therapies, we're here to connect. Reach out to us and let’s start the conversation.