approximately 400 cc of blood is taken from a goat under sterile technique . the animal may typically be re - bled in 10 to 14 days , once the volume of blood is replenished . a pre - bleeding regime may be useful to stimulate production of the active components of the serum . the blood is then centrifuged to separate the serum , and the serum filtered to remove large clots and particulate matter . the serum is then treated with supersaturated ammonium sulphate ( 47 % solution at 4 ° c .) to precipitate antibodies and other material . the resulting solution is centrifuged in a beckman j6m / e centrifuge at 3500 rpm for 45 minutes , after which the supernatant fluid is removed . the precipitated immunoglobulin and other solid material are resuspended in pbs buffer ( phosphate buffered saline ) sufficient to redissolve the precipitate . the solution is then subjected to diafiltration against a pbs buffer with a molecular weight cut - off of 10 , 000 daltons . at 4 ° c . after diafiltration the product is filtered through a 0 . 2 micron filter into a sterile container and adjusted to a protein concentration of 4 mg / ml . the solution is put into vials to give single doses of 1 ml , and stored at − 22 ° c . prior to use . the effects of the serum have been previously described , while determination of the active components has not previously been effected . a sample of the composition was size fractionated on a gel , and a western blot performed using antibodies to β endorphin . a strong signal was detected , indicating the presence of β endorphin , although the apparent molecular weight was approximately 31 kda , far larger than the expected size of β endorphin . this suggested that β endorphin was present in the sample as part of a larger peptide ; the size being consistent with that of pomc . we have also carried out mass spectrometry on the composition , and have detected at least two pomc - derived peptides , β endorphin and corticotrophin - related molecules . crh - bp ( corticotropin releasing hormone binding protein ) has also been identified . pomc peptides and crf - bp have been identified in the product by thermofinnegan lcq mass spectrometry . crf mainly regulates the synthesis and secretion of acth in the anterior pituitary . the administration of pomc and / or its component peptides in addition to crf and crf - bp is thought to initiate a cascade effect thus enhancing the production of systemic and sustained elevated concentrations of pomc peptides . crf - bp has the ability to act as a reservoir for crf . fig1 to 4 show the hits obtained from mass spectrometry analysis of tryptic digests from the product separated from contaminating proteins by sds - page . as mentioned above , some of these molecules are inducers and regulators of the pomc cascade . further investigation using more focused analysis ( e . g . peptide fractionation , immunoprecipitation and concentration ) will reveal more of the peptides present . fig1 indicates the presence of a pomc - derived corticotropin , fig2 that of crf - bp , fig3 that of proenkephalin a , and fig4 that of proenkephalin b . the presence of crf - bp suggests that the product contains some crf , while pomc and related peptides are also clearly present . we have also investigated the effects of treatment with the serum composition on patients &# 39 ; own sera . these effects are described below . fig5 shows mass spectrometry of patients &# 39 ; sera before and after treatment . the spectra from 2 to 10 kd are compared . this molecular weight range is associated with the bioactive peptides of interest . clear differences in the peptide expression in the 2 to 6 kd region can be seen by comparing the profiles in the pre and post treatment sera . for ease of comparison an overlapping view of the profiles is also provided . fig6 shows comparative peptide / protein expression in six treated patients . each patient shows increased levels of induced peptide / protein expression particularly in the 4 kd region . fig7 a shows the mass spectrometry profiles of unprocessed goat serum before vaccination ( pre - immune profile , top panel ), unprocessed serum 53 days post - immunisation , and the processed product . it can be seen that in the lower two panels the profile of the serum is significantly different to that of the pre - immune profile , indicative of the induction of protein expression . the profiles present here represent the active product , and a specific immunisation / bleed protocol has been shown to be useful in the induction of this serum profile . an overlapping view of the profiles is shown ( fig7 b ). fig8 shows comparative levels of acth in the sera of patients before and after receiving treatment . this is also compared with levels of acth in serum from healthy volunteers and in the product administered to patients . sera were diluted 1 : 100 and quantified by an elisa of sera compared with the product . data are the mean of three determinations +/− standard errors . post treatment n = 5 ; pre treatment n = 3 ; normal human sera n = 5 . the data show that treatment increases acth levels . fig9 compares levels of p endorphin in the serum of treated patients with that in the sera of the same patients before treatment . this is compared with levels in the sera of healthy volunteers and in the product . sera were diluted 1 : 100 and quantified by an elisa of sera compared with the product . data are the mean of three determinations +/− standard errors . the data show that treatment increases β endorphin levels . evidence for a switch from a pro - inflammatory th - 1 profile to an anti - inflammatory th - 2 cytokine profile in treated patients fig1 shows the levels of tgf - β in the serum of two groups of patients before and after treatment . the two groups of patients ( n = 3 for each group ) show differing responses with respect to the concentrations of tgf - β produced , but all patients showed an increase in serum levels in response to treatment ( pre sera = patients &# 39 ; serum levels before treatment ; post 2 nd and post 5 th = after the 2 nd and 5 th administration ). the data show that treatment induces increased concentration of the anti - inflammatory cytokine tgf - β . fig1 shows the levels of il - 4 in the serum of one group of patients before ( pre - sera ) and after treatment . it can be seen that after treatment ( post 2 nd ), the levels of il - 4 are significantly increased in the patients &# 39 ; sera ( n = 5 ). however , following the 5 th administration , the levels of il - 4 had dropped in all patients , but remained higher than they had been pre - treatment . il - 4 is known to downregulate the production of the pro - inflammatory cytokines from th - 1 cells . it may be that the consistent changes in concentration seen in all patients is consistent with il - 4 &# 39 ; s role in the th - 1 to th - 2 switch . fig1 shows the levels of il - 6 in the serum of one group of patients before and after treatment . it can be seen that after treatment ( post 2 nd and post 5 th ) the levels of il - 6 are reduced in the patients &# 39 ; sera ( n = 4 ). fig1 shows the levels of ifn - γ in the serum of one group of patients before and after treatment . it can be seen that after treatment ( post 2 nd and post 2 th ) the levels of ifn - y are reduced in the patients &# 39 ; sera . fig1 shows that treatment of human peripheral blood cells ( pbmcs ) induces the production of the anti - inflammatory cytokine il - 10 in the monocyte sub population . t and b lymphocytes and monocytes were separated from pbmcs obtained from human volunteers . all cell types were treated with equivalent doses of product for 16 h , and their supernatants assayed for il - 10 content using elisa . it can be seen that il - 10 levels produced by the t cell population were unaffected by treatment and that only a small increase in il - 10 was induced in the b cells . however , a significant elevation of il - 10 concentration was induced in the monocytes population by the treatment . all determinations were made in triplicate +/− standard deviations . these data are representative of at least three separate experiments . fig1 shows the comparative levels of vasopressin in the product , control patients and patients treated with the product and pre - treatment . the figure shows that there is no significant difference between any of the serum groups , however the product contains significant levels of vasopressin , sufficient to elicit a response in the patients . it is known that vasopressin acts synergistically with crf to release pomc . all determinations were made in triplicate +/− standard deviations . these data are representative of at least 3 separate experiments . patients pre - treatment n = 3 ; treated patients n = 6 . fig1 shows the increased presence of crf in the product compared with the placebo and the increase in the treated patients compared with the non - treated individuals ; the latter is evidence for the induction of crf in the patients in response to treatment . all determinations were made in triplicate +/− standard deviations . these data are representative of at least 3 separate experiments . control individuals n = 4 ; treated patients n = 13 . although preliminary , the evidence to date is therefore consistent with the major active component being crf acting in concert with other components , which is thought to induce pomc production . there is also evidence that pomc itself and pomc - derived peptides may be used as a treatment . this suggests new pharmaceutical compositions and uses for crf and pomc , as well as indicating additional disorders which may be treatable using crf and pomc . we have also provided a convenient method of producing crf and pomc from goats . the data so far suggests that the product not only contains crf , pomc peptides and anti - inflammatory cytokines ( il - 10 and tgf - β ) but also induces the expression and release of crf and hence pomc peptides in the patient which then transform the patients &# 39 ; immunological profile from a th - 1 pro - inflammatory profile to a predominantly th - 2 anti - inflammatory profile . other observations on the composition effects are consistent with the active component being crf which leads to pomc production . for example , effects on leukocyte adherence may be attributable to beta endorphin . the serum product increases il - 10 production by human pbmc ; alpha msh affects il - 10 production . effects on nerve conduction and neuroprotective effects may be ascribed to acth and vasopressin ; effects on appetite may be due to alpha msh . the product itself also contains significant levels of il - 10 and tgf - β ( data not shown ). alpha msh has potent anti - inflammatory effects in all major forms of inflammation and it antagonises the effects of pro - inflammatory cytokines such as tnfα and il1 - β . cross talk exists between the cytokine systems and the pomc system which has been observed in patients treated with the composition to result in the reduction of pro - inflammatory cytokines and the establishment ( retained over the course of treatment ) of a th - 2 anti - inflammatory cytokine profile including elevated levels of il - 10 and tgf - β . we have also identified increased levels of il1 - β in the serum product . the serum product has previously been shown to be very sensitive to proteolytic degradation ; this is consistent with the theory that the pomc is proteolysed to give individual hormones on administration , but that further degradation destroys activity . in particular , alpha msh is believed to have significantly reduced activity if a terminal tripeptide sequence is removed ; again , this is consistent with the active component including pomc . the product itself is unstable by nature as its active components are short - lived , but exhibit powerful effects . we have also conducted experiments which suggest that the serum modulates nitric oxide production by leukocytes ; this is consistent with effects of beta endorphin . we also believe that the serum inhibits pha - induced pbmc proliferation , suggesting an explanation for the serum &# 39 ; s immunomodulatory effects . we have also seen a reduced response of pbmcs in the presence of the product to lps - induced stimulation and mixed lymphocyte reactions ( data not shown ). the product may also induce tyrosine phosphorylation in human brain microglial cells , and has been shown by western blotting to modulate the nfκb pathway ( data not shown ). nfκb is known to regulate the transcription of genes involved in the regulation of pro - inflammatory cytokines , hence the inhibition of nfκb would act to reduce the pro - inflammatory cytokine response in autoimmune disease and reduce inflammatory responses . further experiments to investigate this are underway . receptors ( mcr3 and mcr4 ) for some pomc peptides are found in the retinal ganglion cells that form the optic nerve and may be stimulated by pomc peptides produced after treatment . this may account for some of the rapid improvements in vision experienced by ms patients with optic neuritis which have previously been described . it is known that acth triggers the corticosteroid pathway which can exert effects in as little as 20 to 30 minutes . preliminary data suggests that the concentrations of the peptides in the product may be insufficient to elicit therapeutic responses in patients after dilution in the blood volume of the patient . however , the product could act locally ( as it is injected in a subcutaneous bolus ) to induce a biochemical cascade which triggers the synthesis and release of the bioactive peptides in the treated patients . it is now known that any medical treatments that interfere with the product , for example by competing for receptors or blocking molecules in the hpa should be avoided . in support of this hypothesis mass spectrometry of the product has identified additional molecules some of which are involved in the induction and regulation of the corticotropin system ; namely crh binding protein and leu - enkephalin , corticotropin - lipotropin precursor and pro - enkephalin a precursors ( see fig1 to 4 ). in addition , and perhaps more importantly , we have discovered that two of the major pomc peptides are upregulated significantly in treated patients &# 39 ; sera compared with levels before treatment , and also compared with levels from healthy control volunteers . this finding , together with immunological data , suggests that the treatment induces the expression and release of pomc peptides in the patient , which then transforms the patients &# 39 ; immunological profile from a th - 1 pro - inflammatory profile to a th - 2 anti - inflammatory profile . the further elucidation of the cascade mechanism in the patients is currently under investigation . it should be noted that although the product is anti - inflammatory in nature it does not completely inhibit the inflammatory response . our data suggest that the product induces a shift from the unfavourable th - 1 cytokine profile seen in auto - immune diseases to a more favourable balanced cytokine level . this may appear initially after treatment as a rapid anti - inflammatory th - 2 shift as the th - 1 network is turned off . later on after treatment the th - 1 network operates albeit at a lower level . the reported effects of the serum product on tumours leads us to consider the possibility of anti - angiogenic effects of the serum . in this regard , the proteins thrombospondin - 1 ( tsp - 1 ) and platelet factor 4 ( pf - 4 ) have been identified in the product by mass spectrometry of tryptic digests from sds page gels . computer database searches using biowork browser for peptide identification yielded strong matches across several species including homo sapiens . although precise quantification of the tsp - 1 and pf - 4 protein content of the product has not yet been established , the visible nature of the protein bands on sds page gels indicates that the proteins are present in biologically significant ( upper nanogram ) quantities . a summary of the hypothesised components of the product , and the method of action , is shown in fig1 . the product is thought to contain crf , with some levels of crf - bp , beta endorphin , vasopressin , and enkephalins . crf induces production of further crf in the patient , as do beta endorphin and the enkephalins . endogenous crf causes production of pomc , which gives rise to among others acth , alpha msh , and beta endorphin . this last product acts in a feedback loop , with low levels stimulating further crf release , while high levels inhibit crf release . this whole crf / pomc cascade is thought to induce an immunological switch in the patient , which could explain the surprising beneficial effects seen in a variety of conditions .
analysis of a goat serum product with many therapeutic effects is described . the product is identified as containing proopiomelanocortin and corticotropin releasing factor peptides , as well as breakdown products of these peptides . we describe methods of treatment of diseases including cancers , multiple sclerosis , and neural disorders using these peptides and their products , as well as medicaments including such peptides and methods of producing the peptides .