Tregeutix (pronounced ti·rəˈgyoo·tiks or trəˈgyoo·tiks) is advancing unique, first-in-kind antigen-specific immunotherapeutic approaches by addressing the mechanisms underlying the immune disorders linked to the Hygiene hypothesis.

Touted as a 'holy grail' for curing diseases such as allergy, autoimmunity and tumors since their 2001 discovery, thymus-derived Foxp3⁺ Tregs have yet to yield predictable therapeutic benefits in human trials. We believe much of this translational gap stems from a fundamental failure to recognize that Tregs rely on commensal microbiota derived antigen cross-reactivity to simultaneously coordinate both antigen-specific tolerance and effective immune response.

At Tregeutix we are developing a novel discovery framework dubbed SPIRAL (Specific ImmunoRegulatory Algorithm) that predicts each and every Treg, regardless of its perceived antigen specificity, is maintained by microbiota derived cross-reactive antigens. The SPIRAL framework represents the periodic table of Treg epitopes.

By recognizing antigen cross-reactivity as the proper foundation of immune response regulation rather than a "programming glitch", SPIRAL has the capacity to

• Mechanistically explain how specific microbiota maintain full and complete repertoire of Tregs, and
• Accurately predict how cross-reactivity to microbiota antigens enables Tregs to coordinate adaptive immune responses in an antigen-specific manner.

Microbiota is the next frontier for human health. Healthy microbiota is necessary for a healthy immune system. However, prevailing efforts to harness its therapeutic potential to treat inflammatory disorders are largely based on empirical microbiome-wide correlations that do not extrapolate well from one individual to another and thus lack causality and predictability. In contrast, the novel discovery framework developed by Tregeutix, which relies on antigenic similarity (cross-reactivity), is uniquely positioned to identify specific microbiota necessary for individualized antigen-specific immunotherapy.

By simplifying and adding predictability to antigen-specific immunotherapies, SPIRAL allows systematic and non-random discovery of novel class of Treg-based disease-modifying immunotherapeutics that we refer to as tregeutics, specific members of microbiota that maintain antigen-specific Tregs involved in protection against allergies and autoimmune diseases as well as in determining effectiveness of vaccines to natural infections and tumors.