NanoBio Cystic Fibrosis Program
NanoBio has a NanoStat™ product, NB-401, in development that could be used with other nebulizing treatments cystic fibrosis patients receive to help control CF-related bacterial airway infections. Cystic fibrosis is characterized by persistent Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonization of the conducting airways leading to the migration of inflammatory cells, including polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs), into the airways of CF patients. PMNs release a potent chemokinetic and chemoattractant, leukotriene B, during an inflammatory response, resulting in the further migration of inflammatory cells.
NB-401 has been shown to be highly efficacious in vitro against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Burkholderia, Acinetobacter, Stenotrophomonas, and other multidrug-resistant bacterial strains from CF patients. In addition, the nanoemulsion retains activity when organisms are growing in biofilms and mucus. Resistance to the nanoemulsion is not anticipated based on its unique mechanism of action of interacting with the bacterial membrane and causing lysis. Studies in progress provide a strong basis for continued development. We are hopeful this product will make important contributions to the quality of life for CF patients.
About Cystic Fibrosis
Cystic fibrosis (CF)is the most common life-limiting autosomal recessive disease among people of mostly European heritage. In the United States, approximately 30,000 individuals have CF and most are diagnosed by six months of age. Life expectancy for people with CF depends largely upon access to health care. In 1959, the median age of survival of children with CF was only six months1. Thanks to important therapeutic developments life expectancy in the western world is now close to 36 years1.
CF is an inherited disease caused by mutations in the gene that makes a protein called CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator). CF patients have a defect in chloride permeability and secondarily sodium conductance in sweat glands and epithelial tissue. These defects cause their epithelial cells to produce a thick, sticky mucus rather than a watery mucus that normally acts as a lubricant that lines the passages of the body’s organs. Consequently, CF patients have difficulty in breathing and the thick mucus prevents efficient removal of bacteria from the lungs. This leads to problems such as repeated bacterial lung infections and lung damage.2 Problems with digesting food due to mucus blockage of digestive enzymes from the pancreas into the intestine also occurs. Other organs can also be affected, including the liver, intestines, sinuses and sex organs.
Therapies target mucus production and bacterial exacerbations of CF in the lungs, among other things. Some therapies are designed to rectify the CFTR membrane transporter gene or its faulty protein product.1 NB-401 will impact the life quality of the CF patient by interacting with the membranes and killing gram-negative pathogens that cause infections in the lungs of CF patients.
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