Interleukin-11 (IL-11) is an interesting and unique pleiotropic cytokine, originally characterized as a hematopoietic cytokine with thrombopoietic activity. Yet recently, IL-11 has been implicated in fibrotic diseases of the lung, liver, and kidney. Unfortunately, however, initial IL-11 assays lacked sufficient sensitivity to measure the cytokine in pre-clinical species and human plasma. More recently, antibody generation campaigns have identified a diverse, high-affinity set of anti-IL-11 mAbs to enable the successful development of novel, custom ultra-sensitive target engagement assays for detection of “free” (unbound to the dosed anti-IL-11 therapeutic mAb) and “total” (free and mAb-IL-11 complexed form) IL-11 in pre-clinical species and human. Since IL-11 has been implicated in various diseases, the ability to measure this cytokine in more than 90% of healthy donors and >80% of patients with diverse fibrotic diseases shows potential utility as a target engagement biomarker in the clinic and is pivotal in understanding the underlying pathobiology options for targeted therapy.

In this GEN webinar, we will learn some insights into IL-11’s role in fibrotic diseases of the lung, liver, and kidney. Moreover, we will hear how and why many of the initial IL-11 assays lacked sufficient sensitivity to measure the protein in clinical and pre-clinical samples. Finally, our presenters will describe the manner in which they screened and identified important IL-11 mAbs using the Simoa and SP-X Technology from Quanterix.

Presenters:

Legairre Radden II, Research Scientist
Boehringer Ingelheim

Maria Myzithras, Senior Scientist
Boehringer Ingelheim

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