ERAP inhibitors as a new approach to treat autoimmune & autoinflammatory diseases – ERAPIMM

ERAP enzymes that trim peptides into mature epitopes for their presentation to the immune system by MHC class-I, have been associated with the risk of developing autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases such as the rare Behçet’s disease and ankylosing spondylarthritis, for which no satisfactory treatment exists. The ERAPIMM project gathers experts in drug discovery, systemic autoinflammatory diseases and antigen presentation. Its objective is to identify therapeutically useful, selective, potent, and bioavailable pharmacological inhibitors of ERAP enzymes by an integrated use of medicinal chemistry, functional antigen presentation screening combined with immunopeptidome profiling in patient cells and ending in in vivo evaluation of best candidates. This project and the compounds identified will pave the way to ERAP-based personalized treatments for autoimmune/autoinflammatory diseases, more particularly for Ankylosing Spondylitis and Behçet’s disease.