Novel commensal polysaccharide treats multiple sclerosis through Treg modulation

Abstract Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic demyelinating inflammatory disease that is the most common neurological disease of young adults, affecting over 350,000 patients in the US and over 2.5 million patients worldwide. MS is a disease of high unmetmedical need, currently treatable with one of several approved drugs, all of which result in either immune modulation or significant immunosuppression or immune ablation that can lead to serious adverse effects including opportunistic infections and malignancy. Symbiotix Biotherapies, Inc. is a startup biotechnology company developing a first-in-class therapeutic agent for MS and other immune- mediated diseases based on discoveries recently emerging from the human microbiome. Our scientific founders have identified a specific gut commensal organism, Bacteroides fragilis, that induces IL-10-secreting regulatory T cells (Treg) that are able to dampen the pro-inflammatory activities of Th1, Th2 and Th17 subsets of T cells. They have furthermore identified a sp