ZyVersa Therapeutics, Inc. announced a publication in the peer-reviewed journal, Molecular Neurobiology, demonstrating neuroprotective effects of NLRP3 inflammasome inhibition in a mouse model of MS using a research tool molecule, MCC950. In the paper titled, Inhibiting the NLRP3 Inflammasome with MCC950 Alleviates Neurological Impairment in the Brain of EAE Mice, the authors studied a mouse model which mirrors MS-like pathology and is commonly used to research MS disease progression. Key findings showed that NLRP3 inflammasome inhibition: Ameliorated pathological changes in the spinal cord and neuron damage in the brain of MS mice.

Reduced microglia activation and prevention of its conversion to the M1 phenotype which induces neuroinflammation and neurotoxicity. Reduced activation of astrocytes, which are involved in development of MS. IC 100 is a novel humanized IgG4 monoclonal antibody that inhibits the inflammasome adaptor protein ASC. IC 100 was designed to attenuate both initiation and perpetuation of the inflammatory response.

It does so by binding to a specific region of the ASC component of multiple types of inflammasomes, including NLRP1, NLRP2, NLRP3, NLRC4, AIM2, Pyrin. Intracellularly, IC 100 binds to ASC monomers, inhibiting inflammasome formation, thereby blocking activation of IL-1ß early in the inflammatory cascade. IC 100 also binds to ASC in ASC Specks, both intracellularly and extracellularly, further blocking activation of IL-1ß and the perpetuation of the inflammatory response that is pathogenic in inflammatory diseases.

Because active cytokines amplify adaptive immunity through various mechanisms, IC 100, by attenuating cytokine activation, also attenuates the adaptive immune response.