Synthesis and evaluation of kynurenine-containing peptides as diagnostic tools for Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, inflammatory, demyelininating disease of the central nervous system (CNS). Recent studies have shown that one of the metabolic degradation of Tryptophan (Trp), the Kynurenine pathway (KP), is likely to be involved in the pathogenesis of MS [1]. Our hypothesis is that in MS patients Trp level is disregulated, thus leading to an abnormally high level of Kynurenine in the organism during the course of the disease. This may lead to the production of anti-kynurenine protein autoantibodies as possible relevant biomarkers of MS. Using the “chemical reverse approach” [2] previously developed by our team, we synthesized Kynurenine-containing peptides based on the previously designed beta-turn structure, the CSF114 peptide sequence to be used as synthetic antigenic probe for the detection of autoantibodies possibly directed against Kynurenine in sera of MS patients.