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SEATTLE – The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has named Gerald T. Nepom, MD, PhD, as the director of the Immune Tolerance Network (ITN), one of the largest government-funded clinical research networks in the country working to establish new treatments for diseases of the immune system. Dr. Nepom is presently the director of Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI) and will maintain both positions providing scientific oversight and management.

Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) director and founder, Jeffrey A. Bluestone has accepted the position of Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost at the University of California, San Francisco, pending approval by the UC Regents. 

Details of his new appointment may be found on the UCSF website . 

As he embarks upon his latest challenge at UCSF, Bluestone will step down as Director of the ITN. 

The Immune Tolerance Network's (ITN's) START research trial for new-onset type 1 diabetes has received the approval of its Data Safety and Monitoring Board to accept patients aged 12-18 years into the study. The decision was made after a review of safety data from the initial group of 10 adult subjects enrolled into the study. The trial is now open to individuals between the ages of 12-35 who have been diagnosed with new-onset type 1 diabetes within the past 3 months. The START trial is being conducted under the direction of principal investigator Dr.

The Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) is seeking ‘Proposal Outlines’ for novel clinical trials designed to induce immune tolerance in psoriasis and other autoimmune skin disorders, including those mediated by autoantibodies such as pemphigus and pemphigoid.

A special assessment group has been convened by the ITN to consider these proposals. The review process will focus on evaluating the conceptual framework of the proposed trial, its significance and its suitability for further development; it does not require submission of a detailed clinical protocol.

Three abstracts from Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) studies are being presented at this year's American Transplant Congress in Boston, MA, held May 20-June 3, 2009.

UCSF's Sandy Feng will present the preliminary results of her study of immunosuppression withdrawal in pediatric liver transplant recipients. The three center study is fully enrolled, with 20 subjects aged 5-15 years. 

The full cohort of 640 children has now been enrolled in the Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) LEAP study of peanut allergy. The study is being conducted under the direction of principal investigator Gideon Lack, MD at Evelina Children’s Hospital, part of Guys and St Thomas Hospital in London, UK.

The Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) has completed enrolling the full cohort of 83 patients in its Autoimmunity-blocking Antibody for Tolerance in type 1 diabetes, or ‘AbATE’ trial.

The clinical trial is aimed at determining whether the antibody teplizumab -- also known as hOKT3g1(Ala-Ala) – can halt progression of newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes.

The ITN protocol for the measurement of Fox-P3-expressing T regulatory (Treg) cells has been published in the March 2009 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Cytometry B: Clinical Cytometry.

Summary - The purpose of this EOI is to gather information from the scientific community about novel ideas for tolerogenic immunotherapeutic trials in type 1 diabetes (T1D) under the ITN-JDRF Partnership in Type 1 Diabetes Program. Expressions of interest should be submitted no later than April 13, 2009. 

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Note: This Expression of Interest (EOI) is for information and planning purposes only and should not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the ITN.