Pasithea Therapeutics Corp. announced a publication in the internationally renowned scientific peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), related to its PAS-003 drug discovery program, that describes an increased expression of a5/ß1 (a5) integrin on motor neurons in ALS human and mouse tissue, as well as the blockade of this integrin as a potential new approach to treat ALS patients. The paper presents new findings from an interdisciplinary collaboration of scientific teams at Pasithea, the Mayo Clinic, and Oregon Health & Science University, combining results from human post-mortem tissues from ALS patients and from tissue samples from the superoxide dismutase-1 G93A mouse model of ALS (SOD1G93A).

Key findings from the publication show: an increased expression of a5 integrin in motor pathways of the central and peripheral nervous system in post-mortem tissues from ALS patients with various clinical ALS phenotypes and disease duration; specificity of a5 integrin in ALS compared to other integrins; presence of a5 integrin-positive microglia, particularly in the zone of active and prior neuronophagia; an increased expression of a5 integrin in microglia and macrophages in the SOD1G93A mouse model of ALS linked to disease progression; the administration of a monoclonal antibody against a5 integrin increased survival in the SOD1G93A mouse model of ALS compared to an isotype control; and the administration of a monoclonal antibody against a5 integrin improved motor function on behavioral testing in the SOD1G93A mouse model of ALS compared to an isotype control. PAS-003 is a monoclonal antibody targeting a5/ß1 integrin for the treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and other neurological diseases.