The study of autoimmune activity has historically focused on diseases of peripheral tissues and organs. We now know that autoantibodies can target the brain causing severe neurological and psychiatric diseases. Founded to explore the latest discoveries in autoimmune neuropsychiatry, Arialys Therapeutics is developing new precision medicines to specifically block the effect of pathogenic autoantibodies in the brain and meaningfully expand the treatment possibilities for neuropsychiatric disorders driven by autoimmune disease.
Pathogenic autoantibodies that target receptors in the brain and drive neurological and psychiatric symptoms were first discovered in 2007. The most common target of these autoantibodies is the NMDA receptor (NMDAR), a molecule vital for neuronal synapse activity and normal cognition, learning, memory and autonomic function. Anti-NMDAR autoantibodies have now been detected in patients suffering from many neuropsychiatric conditions including encephalitis, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, dementia, stroke and cancer-related cognitive impairment. Arialys has used structural analysis of the autoantibody-NMDAR interactions to design the first precision medicine for the treatment of autoimmune neuropsychiatric disease.
Arialys
