Edmonton fighter diagnosed with rare disease
Victor Valimaki, a 37-year old professional fighter from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, was left crippled by a rare autoimmune disorder.
Although Valimaki has fought in over two dozen professional fights, leading him to a successful career as an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) mixed-martial arts fighter, he was recently diagnosed with neuromyelitis optica (NMO), otherwise known as Devic’s disease.
This autoimmune condition affects the body’s optic nerves, spinal cord and brain. For Valimaki, the disease caused him to lose his vision, speech, and ability to walk. Although he has since regained his sight, he is still struggling with the other consequences of the disorder.
Read his full story and watch the video on CTV News Edmonton.
Italian biotech company raises 17M€ to fund gene therapies for autoimmune diseases
An Italian biotechnology company named Altheia raised over 17 million euros this week to fund gene therapies that could potentially treat many incurable autoimmune diseases.
The company’s technology, which uses gene therapy to engineer bone marrow stem cells to express a molecule called PD-L1 that inactivates the immune system’s T cells. In other words, the molecule released will ‘hit the breaks’ on the body’s immune system, avoiding an immune system attack on healthy tissue.
Paolo Rizzardi, the company’s CEO, has stated that he expects clinical trials for autoimmune conditions such as multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes to begin in 2021.
Read more about this exciting new development on LABIOTECH.eu.
Autoimmune Warrior 