The therapeutic potential of chemokine-toxin fusion proteins.

Activated cells of the immune system and the biochemical mediators they produce, underlie the pathology and secondary tissue damage in a wide range of diseases and traumas. One approach to therapy is to inhibit specific mediators in various biochemical pathways or cascades with the use of biological response modifiers. An alternative approach is to suppress or eradicate diseased cells or activated cells that fuel the disease and secondary tissue damage processes. Osprey has chosen to develop novel versatile cell-targeting agents that exploit the cell biology of the chemokine superfamily of receptors and ligands.