In vitro evaluation of novel Store-Operated Calcium Entry negaTive mOdulator on immune cells of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

STOP-MS is a highly innovative research project focusing on the characterization of a new target fundamental in the maintenance of intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis, named Store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE), in Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RR-MS). Nonetheless, there is some evidence on the role of SOCE in autoimmune diseases, but it has never been investigated in multiple sclerosis (MS) so far. Moreover, as shown in the preliminary data, we treated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from RR-MS patients with a novel and patented negative modulator of SOCE (CIC-39), currently in preclinical development stage. Our preliminary findings showed that CIC-39 reduces inflammation by targeting two T cell subsets, namely T helper (Th)-1 and Th17, known to be the culprit ones driven-MS pathogenesis, without hampering the correct immune system functionality. Further data could confirm these results, also opening to a new disease modifying therapy (DMT) for MS.