Description
Atacicept is a fusion protein combining TNFRSF13B and Fc (fragment constant) of IgG1 heavy chain. Atacicept was designed to inhibit B cells, and which was investigated as an intervention in autoimmune diseases. Mechanistically atacicept neutralizes the function of two important B-cell activating factors, BAFF (BLyS) and APRIL. Structurally atacicept contains the BLyS/APRIL-binding extracellular portion of the TACI receptor fused to a modified Fc from human IgG1. One of the important functions of these two factors in autoimmune disease is their ability to induce proliferation of plasma cells and thus increase Ig production, in particular the production of destructive anti-self antibodies