△ Professors Cho Mi-ra, Lee Sun-young, Lee A-ram

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a formidable disease that causes the skin and lungs throughout the body to harden. A vaccine directly targeting this intractable disease, for which there is no clear treatment yet, has been developed by researchers at The  Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine.

A joint research team consisting of Professor Cho Mi-ra, Research Professor Lee Sun-young, Research Professor Lee A-ram from the Department of Pathology, Professor Park Jun-hyuk and Professor Koo Hee-bum from the Department of Biomedical Sciences, and Professor Seo Sang-wook from the Department of Microbiology at The  Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine, has been selected for the '2024 Health and Medical R&D Top 30 Achievements' by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI). This recognition was for their national project, 'Development of Nano-fusion Vaccine for the Treatment of Intractable Autoimmune Disease Systemic Sclerosis Targeting Vimentin Pathogenesis.'

KHIDI annually selects representative research and development achievements in the domestic health and medical field as the 'Top 30 Achievements.' From hundreds of candidates nationwide, a rigorous selection process involving preliminary screening, expert evaluation, and review by the Excellent Achievement Recommendation Committee leads to the final 30 projects. The selection comprehensively evaluates the scientific originality of the research, its clinical applicability, and its contribution to public health.

Systemic sclerosis is a representative intractable autoimmune disease where the body's immune system mistakenly attacks its own tissues. Key symptoms include thickening and hardening of the skin, and in severe cases, fibrosis (hardening of tissues) can spread to the lungs, threatening life. Treatment is very difficult, and currently, there are no treatments that eliminate the cause; existing treatments only slow down fibrosis or alleviate symptoms. Therefore, the development of targeted therapies that directly act on the cause of the disease has been a long-cherished desire of patients and the medical community.

Professor Cho Mi-ra's team focused on 'vimentin,' a protein that plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of systemic sclerosis. Vimentin is one of the autoantigens that immune cells react to when they attack their own tissues. The research team challenged the possibility that if the malfunction of immune cells could be blocked by targeting vimentin, fibrosis in systemic sclerosis could be suppressed.

Professor Cho confirmed specific T cells (immune cells) that induce inflammation and fibrosis in systemic sclerosis patients. These T cells secrete inflammatory substances such as IL-4 and IFN-α through the STING/STAT6 immune signaling pathway, promoting fibrosis, which was published in Immune Network in 2024.

To prevent this fibrosis promotion, the research team developed a vaccine that targets these immune cells. This vaccine is not merely a preventive vaccine; it incorporates immune-modulating substances into nanoparticles designed to recognize vimentin antigens, thereby inducing human immune cells not to overreact to vimentin. In particular, this vaccine successfully calmed the autoimmune response and prevented tissue damage by inducing Treg (regulatory T cells) instead of inflammatory T cells.

This research did not stop at animal experiments. The research team developed an 'avatar mouse' model using immune cells from systemic sclerosis patients to test the vaccine's efficacy in an environment similar to actual humans. As a result, they confirmed a significant reduction in tissue fibrosis along with inflammation suppression.

Through this process, Professor Cho Mi-ra's research team was recognized for their scientific achievement, which not only presented simple experimental results but also practically demonstrated therapeutic potential, leading to their selection for the Health and Medical R&D Top Achievements.

This vaccine technology is not limited to systemic sclerosis. It also opens up possibilities as a platform technology applicable to various intractable diseases accompanied by fibrosis, such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and pulmonary fibrosis, which are also autoimmune diseases.

Professor Cho Mi-ra stated, "We aimed to create a treatment that can simultaneously block immune inflammation and fibrotic responses at the early stage of disease onset." She added, "This vaccine is not just a single new drug, but could be a paradigm shift in the treatment of autoimmune diseases."

This selection is more than just an academic achievement; it is a symbolic case demonstrating that vaccine-based autoimmune therapy research in Korea has entered the stage of clinical realization. The Catholic University of Kroea College of Medicine plans to continue expanding its research capabilities for convergence research to overcome intractable diseases and realize social value.

△ Verification of accelerated fibrotic response of human STING/STAT6/IL-4/IFNα-activated fibrosis-inducing antigen-specific T cells in a systemic sclerosis patient-mimicking model (Immune Netw. 2024 Oct 16;24(5):e37. doi: 10.4110/in.2024.24.e37)

△ Development of a therapeutic vaccine for systemic sclerosis for oral and subcutaneous administration; Structure of a therapeutic vaccine loaded with vimentin antigen

△ Verification of inhibition of antigen-antibody response and suppression of skin and lung fibrosis by therapeutic vaccine administration in a vimentin antigen-specific systemic sclerosis model. Confirmation of therapeutic vaccine uptake in dendritic cells (confocal)