Scientist's Top Honor Spotlights New Era for Autoimmune Treatment

HOUSTON, TX – May 19, 2026 – The recent induction of Dr. Mariano A. Garcia-Blanco into the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), one of the highest honors bestowed upon a U.S. scientist, is casting a bright light on a potentially revolutionary shift in treating autoimmune diseases. While the honor recognizes a lifetime of achievement in RNA biology, its greatest significance may lie in the validation it brings to the work of Autoimmunity BioSolutions (ABS), the biotechnology company Dr. Garcia-Blanco co-founded to turn his foundational research into a new class of precision therapies.

His work provides the scientific backbone for a novel strategy that moves away from the blunt instrument of broad immune suppression. Instead, it offers a genetically-guided approach designed to help the millions of patients with conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and multiple sclerosis who do not respond to current treatments. The honor underscores a pivotal moment where decades of academic research are poised to translate into tangible hope for patients.

A Legacy of Scientific Rigor

Dr. Garcia-Blanco's election to the NAS is the culmination of a distinguished career that began in 1990. Currently the F. Palmer Weber Medical Research Professor and Chair of Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology at the University of Virginia, he has been a leading figure in molecular biology for over three decades. His journey includes founding the Duke Center for RNA Biology and holding prestigious professorships at Duke University and the University of Texas Medical Branch before joining UVA in 2023. With over 200 publications and continuous NIH funding since 1991, his work has profoundly influenced the fields of RNA biology and virology.

Membership in the NAS is an elite recognition of outstanding contributions to original research, with members elected by their peers. This induction places Dr. Garcia-Blanco among the nation's most accomplished scientists and lends significant credibility to his entrepreneurial ventures, which include five co-founded life sciences companies.

"Mariano's election to the National Academy of Sciences reflects the extraordinary quality and impact of his scientific legacy," said Eugene Williams, CEO of Autoimmunity BioSolutions, in a statement. "For patients, however, his most important contribution may still lie ahead through the translational science now advancing at ABS, which could transform autoimmune disease care."

Unlocking a Genetic Mystery

The core of ABS's platform is a discovery made by Dr. Garcia-Blanco and his co-founder, Dr. Gaddiel Galarza-Munoz. They identified a common genetic variation, known as a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), that has a profound impact on the immune system. This specific SNP, present in approximately half of the global population, causes the body to produce two to three times the normal amount of a protein called soluble IL7 receptor (sIL7R).

For years, researchers have observed that elevated levels of sIL7R are consistently linked to more severe disease, faster progression, and poor responses to standard therapies across a wide range of autoimmune conditions. Dr. Garcia-Blanco's work provided the missing link: a specific, common genetic cause for this elevation. This connection is not merely academic. A study of rheumatoid arthritis patients, for example, found that those with high sIL7R levels were three times less likely to respond to infliximab, a widely used therapy.

This genetic insight explains why so many patients become refractory to treatment. In conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, roughly 50% of patients have an inadequate response to the current standards of care. The research from ABS suggests that for a large portion of this population, elevated sIL7R driven by their genetics is the underlying mechanism of resistance.

Shifting from Suppression to Correction

For decades, the standard approach to treating autoimmune diseases has been broad immunosuppression. Medications like steroids and TNF inhibitors work by tamping down the entire immune system to reduce inflammation. While often effective, this approach is a blunt tool, carrying risks of serious infections and other long-term side effects. It also fails to address the root cause of the disease and, as noted, is ineffective for a large subset of patients.

Autoimmunity BioSolutions is pioneering a fundamentally different strategy it calls "immuno-corrective." Instead of globally suppressing the immune system, its therapy is designed to precisely target and normalize the elevated levels of sIL7R only in patients who carry the specific genetic variant.

"For too long, autoimmune diseases have been treated with broad immunosuppression rather than addressing underlying, patient-specific biology," Dr. Garcia-Blanco stated. "By identifying patients in whom the sIL7R pathway is driving greater disease severity and poor treatment response, we have an opportunity to significantly improve patient outcomes."

This personalized strategy promises to restore normal immune function rather than simply shutting it down. By correcting the specific biological pathway that has gone awry, the therapy could potentially make existing standards of care effective for patients for whom they previously failed, representing a paradigm shift in autoimmune care.

Charting the Course to a New Therapy

With a validated genetic target and a clear biological mechanism, Autoimmunity BioSolutions is now advancing its therapeutic pipeline. The company is developing both monoclonal antibodies and antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) designed to specifically bind to and reduce the excess sIL7R in the bloodstream. Preclinical studies have already shown promise, with the company demonstrating the causal role of sIL7R in non-human primate models of multiple sclerosis.

ABS is initially focusing on indications with high non-response rates, including rheumatoid arthritis, lupus nephritis, and Type 1 Diabetes. The company's approach involves a companion diagnostic to identify patients with the specific SNP, ensuring the therapy is delivered only to those who are most likely to benefit. This strategy aligns with the broader trend in medicine towards personalized treatments tailored to an individual's genetic makeup.

While other advanced therapies like CAR-T and CRISPR gene editing are also being explored for autoimmune conditions, ABS's focus on a highly prevalent, genetically defined pathway offers a distinct and potentially more scalable approach. By aiming to correct a fundamental driver of disease in a significant portion of the patient population, the work of Dr. Garcia-Blanco and his team at ABS may soon redefine the treatment landscape for some of the most challenging autoimmune diseases.