I am a little puzzled as the the design of the fusion proteins used in the MedImmune/biOasis collaboration described in the June 8th BIO 2016 presentation. They describe a 3-part fusion protein. First, there is a fusion of either Mtfp fused at the N-terminus of hIgG1 antibody or althernatively full length Mtf fused at the N-terminus of an Fc antibody fragment. The second fusion is of IL-1RA fused at the C-terminus of either Mtfp-hIgG1 or Mtf-Fc fusions. While the Mtf/Mtfp targeting of IL-1RA makes sense for alleviating neuropathic pain, I am unsure of the mechanism or utility of having the hIgG1 or Fc fragment as part of the fusion. Maybe they just included these antibody/antibody fragments as a way to test delivery of a generic antibody across the BBB in addition to their IL-1RA analgesia experimental goals. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

BearDownAZ