Ara-290

What Is Ara-290?

Ara-290 (cibinetide) is an 11-amino-acid peptide engineered from the helix B domain of erythropoietin (EPO). EPO has two separate functions: it drives red blood cell production through the classical homodimeric EPO receptor, and it performs a distinct anti-inflammatory and tissue-repair role through a heterocomplex called the Innate Repair Receptor (IRR), built from one EPO receptor subunit and the common beta-chain (CD131) shared with GM-CSF, IL-3, and IL-5.

The Brines and Cerami group at the Feinstein Institute spent the better part of a decade showing that IRR signalling maps to a structurally distinct face of the EPO molecule (helix B), and that a small synthetic peptide modelled on that surface retains the tissue-protective signalling without touching the erythropoietic receptor. That peptide is Ara-290. It binds the IRR on injured or stressed tissue, activates PI3K/Akt and Jak2/STAT3 survival pathways, reduces TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, IL-6, and other NF-kB-driven cytokines, and promotes regeneration of small nerve fibres and damaged endothelium. Because it does not bind the homodimeric EPO receptor, it does not raise haematocrit or thrombosis risk, the limitation that prevented EPO itself from being developed as an anti-inflammatory. Cibinetide has completed Phase 2 trials in sarcoidosis-associated small-fibre neuropathy and diabetic neuropathy.