MICA: Targeting of CD1a for treatment of inflammatory skin disease

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Inflammation of the skin is very common, affecting 20-30% of the UK population. Eczema (atopic dermatitis) is amongst the most common, and can associate with asthma, hay-fever and food allergy. Current treatments are suppressive rather than curative, and can carry significant risk of side-effects. There remains a major need for better and safer treatments for eczema and other types of inflammation of the skin, including psoriasis. We have discovered a previously unknown mechanism for skin inflammation to occur, which we have shown is relevant to eczema and other skin conditions. The newly discovered "CD1a" pathway is predominantly relevant to the skin, suggesting that risk of side-effects elsewhere would be minimal. We now wish to progress this knowledge to develop new medicines which can be used to treat skin disease. The MRC/UCB grant award would allow us to identify such potential treatment candidates, and we have all the required facilities and know-how in Oxford to understand which of these would be best to take forward to clinical trials. Overall, by understanding how skin diseases occur, we have been able to open the door to potential new treatments, and we now will develop these towards patient benefit.