Professor Syed E A Haq MB BS BSc (HON) PhD DIC MRCP(UK)

Professor Syed Haq, is a Consultant Physician and Founder of The London Preventative Medicine Centre. He is the Clinical and Scientific Director of Daval International Ltd., a biopharmaceutical company developing a platform for the treatment of autoimmune (e.g., Systemic Sclerosis), neurodegenerative (e.g., Motor neuron disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Myasthenia Gravis, Multiple Sclerosis) and inflammatory (e.g., Rheumatoid arthritis) diseases using a patented polyclonal antibody/peptide composite which has recently completed two phase II clinical trials in the UK. He has worked and trained at some of the foremost institutions - Guy’s Hospital, Hammersmith and Royal Brompton Hospitals, Imperial College, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Tufts University, New England Medical Center Hospitals Inc.

Prof. Haq has published peer-reviewed articles in several internationally renowned scientific journals including PNAS and Nature Medicine. He has been co-chairman of the Anti-ageing Conference London (2008-11), and has been an invited presenter/speaker at numerous international conferences (American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, Anti-Ageing Medicine World Congress and the NCD National Workshop, India). Prof. Haq has received several national and international awards/fellowships from the Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust International, American Heart Association, Astra Zeneca and the Heart Failure Society of America.

2012 - A novel monotherapy – hyperimmune caprine sera in the treatment of pathological fibrosis/vasculopathy and neurological disease – implications for anti-ageing

Pathological fibrosis - Systemic sclerosis (scleroderma, SSc) is a multi-systemic disease characterised clinically by fibrosis of the skin, joints, muscles and internal organs. The pathogenesis of SSc remains incompletely understood although it seems likely that there is an interplay between inflammatory, vascular (vasculopathy) and fibroblast dysfunction, leading ultimately to the sustained activation of a population of fibroblasts that deposit increased amounts of extracellular matrix in lesional tissues, including the skin and internal organs.

Impairment of the immune system is currently thought to play an important role in this condition. This is based on the observation that in the early phases of SSc, mononuclear cells migrate to the dermis and accumulate around small blood vessels, nerves and skin appendages. Furthermore, there is a direct relationship between the extent of cutaneous inflammation and the extent and progression of fibrosis of the skin. Stimulated T-lymphocytes of patients with SSc produce more tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a), interleukin-1 and -2 compared with healthy controls and the serum concentrations of IL-2, IL-4, IL-6 and IL-8 and soluble IL-2receptors are elevated. The occurrence of autoantibodies, predominantly anti-topoisomerase-1 (ATA) and anti-centromere antibodies (ACA), in approximately 90% of the patients, points to an alteration of the humoral immune system.

At present, no treatment has been definitely shown to be effective in SSc. Because of its presumed immunologic pathogenesis, modulation of the immune system has been the major goal in therapeutic interventions in SSc. Several studies have reported effectiveness of immune modulating drugs in the treatment of this disease, although these have mostly been in open, uncontrolled trials. These drugs include azathioprine, cyclosporin, methotrexate and cyclophosphamide. Amongst these, methotrexate and cyclophosphamide are currently the most widely used. New, more specific immunological treatment modalities have been harnessed in order to improve the treatment and prognosis of scleroderma patients. In 2005, a patient with systemic sclerosis was treated with hyperimmune caprine sera on a compassionate use basis with a sustained improvement in mobility and, in particular, there was an improvement in proximal muscle power and skin characteristics. As a result we embarked on a 1-year phase II Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Phase II Clinical Study evaluating the safety and tolerability of a hyperimmune caprine serum given as a monotherapy to patients with Late Stage Established Diffuse Cutaneous Systemic Sclerosis (diffuse scleroderma). The results of this trial will be discussed together with open-label studies, which looked at neurological diseases in the form of demyelinating and/or axonal damage and Alzheimer’s disease. The implications of these findings in anti-ageing therapeutics will be discussed.