Research areas

Autoimmunity - when the body is its own worst enemy

Both the activity of the immune system and normal inflammatory reactions are basically functions that are designed to protect us from infections. These systems are highly selective, carefully regulated and tremendously powerful.

In the best of all possible worlds, the regulation of these defence systems would be completely foolproof. In real life, however, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases cause considerable suffering. Rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, type-I diabetes, asthma and inflammatory bowel disease affect more than one-tenth of all people. This figure is even higher if we include phenomena such as hardening of the arteries and neurodegenerative diseases. The progress of all these diseases includes a distinct inflammatory component.

Imbalance in the immune system

What all these diseases have in common is that they more or less selectively attack the function of vital tissues or organs - even completely destroying them sometimes. The key word in this context is balance, since these diseases always feature imbalances in the regulation of inflammatory or immunologically active cells.

In its laquinimod project, among others, Active Biotech has focused on immunomodulatory properites that affect the communication between cells with immunological or inflammatory activity. Researchers focus on making optimal use of the natural regulatory mechanisms to slow down the autoimmune process.