The partnership will support an enabling study in healthy volunteers that explores how the immune system responds to a skin ‘challenge’. Dr Philip Drennan, newly appointed Senior Clinical Research Fellow and Honorary Consultant in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, will lead the project.
Phil explains: ‘Human immune challenge (HIC) approaches allow researchers to study how the immune system responds to different triggers in a controlled manner. They also allow us to activate elements or pathways that are relevant to different diseases. In these studies individuals are given a tiny, controlled "challenge" which elicits a reaction that can then be measured in high temporal and spatial resolution – that is, the ability to monitor changes over time, and capturing the fine details of an image.
‘In this study with Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, our group will explore how Diphenylcyclopropenone (DPCP) could be used in research to uncover how inflammation develops and resolves over time.’
DPCP is a synthetic chemical compound that has the ability to induce an allergic skin reaction in almost all healthy individuals when they are exposed to it for the first time. This reaction is known as allergic contact dermatitis. DPCP is not found naturally and is deliberately kept out of manufactured products, so exposure can only occur through intentional use. Despite its potent allergic effects, DPCP has found some clinical uses in the treatment of alopecia areata and in the treatment of both warts and cutaneous melanoma metastases.
Years of research has shown that DPCP has a good safety profile and is well-tolerated when used in HIC studies with healthy volunteers. Importantly, exposure offers important insights into how the immune system works in tissues in vivo, not just in the blood or blood-derived cells.
The new study aims to build on this previous work and take the DPCP challenge approach to an even higher level of detail. The researchers want to develop an immunological atlas, fully characterising the immune processes and pathways that are triggered by DPCP exposure. The results will inform the early phases of clinical drug development. As Phil explains ‘It will hopefully allow us to rapidly learn how new medicines affect human immune responses, allowing them to be tried on a small group of people before moving with confidence on to larger, more complex clinical trials.’
The Translational Pharmacology group are privileged to be joined by Emeritus Prof Peter Friedmann (University of Southampton) as an Academic Visitor for the duration of the project. Prof Friedmann is a clinical academic, dermatologist and has led the pivotal work exploring contact allergy through DPCP and a related chemical DNCB. He will be presenting ‘Experimental Contact sensitisation as a probe for investigating the immune system in humans,’ on 27th March at 12:30pm as part of the Botnar Seminar Series. All are encouraged to attend.
‘We are delighted to be working in partnership with J&J and Prof Friedmann on this project, sharing a mutual vision of the value of experimental medicine in deciphering fundamental human immunology and ascertaining proof-of-mechanism for novel therapies’ said James Fullerton, Associate Professor of Clinical Therapeutics. The project will run over 2025 and 2026.