A normal immune system includes T and B cells, or lymphocytes, which circulate throughout the body. When a lymphocyte encounters a foreign antigen, like a bacterium or a virus, it will become activated if it is competent to respond to the particular foreign antigen. Activated B cells undergo rapid replication, and attack the antigen by secreting antibodies. T cells replicate and attack antigens directly. Activated lymphocytes, in a normal immune system, are necessary for good health.

There are three ways, however, in which the replication of activated immune cells is inappropriate and pathogenic. For example, lymphocytes can occasionally become permanently activated. The subsequent, unchecked replication causes hematologic cancers, like leukemia and multiple myeloma. Immune cells can also become competent to react with self antigens. When this occurs, particular T or B cells in a patient begin to attack components of the patient's own body. And finally, after an organ transplant, even a perfectly normal immune response can cause unwanted pathology. Because donated organs are only rarely perfect matches, recipient immune systems typically attack the donor organ. The current therapies for all of these immune dysfunctions are general; they damage many cells that are uninvolved with the targeted disease. For this reason, even successful treatments for immunological diseases often have a significant effect on the subsequent general health of a patient.

Immune Control has discovered that blocking certain serotonin receptors will initiate apoptosis, or natural programmed cell death, of only activated lymphocytes. To the best of our knowledge, no pharmaceutical or biotech companies are approaching immune modulation using serotonin-based drugs. Target diseases and treatments include multiple myeloma, CLL, transplant rejection, and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, scleroderma, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, Sjögren's disease, myasthenia gravis, and type I diabetes.

Immune Control's data all suggest that single exposures to serotonin antagonists will kill only those immune cells that are activated and replicating at the time of treatment.