Table 2.

Salient features and effects of the current peptide therapeutics in SLE

Peptide	Origin	In Vivo Effects	Molecular Mechanisms	Administration Route	Clinical trial
pCons	Synthetic murine anti-dsDNA Ab	Reduced anti-DNA Ab, proteinuria; delayed nephritis and prolonged survival	Induces Tregs (both CD4+ and CD8+), increases TGF-b, IL-10, FOXP3	Intravenous route	N/A
hCDR1 (Edratide)	CDR1 of the human anti-DNA mAb	Decreased anti-dsDNA, anti-nuclear, anti-cardiolipin Abs, and nephritis; prolonged survival	Decreased IFN- γ, IFN- α, IL-1B, TNF-α, BAFF, caspases 3 and 8, T and B cell activation, Increased CD4+ and CD8+ Tregs, and B cell apoptosis	Subcutaneous	Double blind, Phase 2 placebo-controlled clinical trial
DWEYS	Anti-DNA Ab (D/E W D/E Y S/G), consensus sequence with NMDAR	Decreased anti-dsDNA Abs; amelioration of renal and CNS manifestations	Decreased binding and glomerular deposition of anti dsDNA Abs; inhibition of autoreactive B cells	Intravenous route	N/A
FISLE-412	Molecular topology of DWEYS	Decreased anti-dsDNA Abs, amelioration of renal and CNS manifestations	Decreased binding and glomerular deposition of anti dsDNA Abs, Abs to cardiolipin, and neuronal apoptosis	Oral	N/A
ALW	Four types of murine anti-dsDNA IgG mAbs	Decreased anti-dsDNA Abs; amelioration of renal manifestations	Decreased laminin, CTGF, TGF-b, PDGF-B, anti-DNA Ab binding/glomerular deposition; renal inflammation	Intravenous route	N/A
Nucleo-somal histone peptide	Endogenous peptide epitopes in histone from nucleosome	Decreased pathogenic autoantibody production, renal inflammation, B cell activation	Induced both CD4+ and CD8+ Tregs	Subcutaneous intranasal, intraperitoneal	N/A
LJP-394 (Abetimus)	Synthetic tolerogen (4 oligo-nucleotides attached to niPEG)	Decreased anti-dsDNA Abs	Binds to cross-linking surface Abs	Intravenous	Phase I, II and III

SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus; TGF-β, transforming growth factor β; FOXP3, Forkhead box protein P3; SOCS-1 suppression of cytokine signaling-1, PDGF-B, platelet-derived growth factor-B; CTGF, connective tissue growth factor; CNS, central nervous system; Abs, antibodies; niPEG, non-immunogenic polyethylene glycol; N/A, not available. Modified from ref [86], Springer.