AC Immune announces Penn tie-up

Swiss biotech AC Immune (Nasdaq: ACIU) has supplemented its research efforts in neurodegenerative diseases with a newly-announced partnership with the University of Pennsylvania (Penn).

The collaboration with Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine will study the pathological mechanisms of TDP-43 misfolding and aggregation.

TDP-43 is a transactive response DNA binding protein, a transcription factor found in most human tissues. It is a recently identified target of growing interest for indications such as frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It also plays an important role in other significant neurodegenerative indications such as Alzheimer’s disease.