New research conducted by Professor Wilhelm Schwaeble of the Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation at the University of Leicester in conjunction with research collaborations from King?s College London, the Medical University of Fukushima, Japan and the State University of New York have discovered that a simple injection may limit the devastating consequences of heart attacks and strokes.
Professor Schwaeble and collaborators identified an enzyme, Mannan Binding Lectin-Associated Serine Protease-2 (MASP-2), that is found in blood and is a key component of the lectin pathway of complement activation, a component of the innate immune system.
That being said, when blood flow returns to bodily tissues and organs following ischaemia, the lectin pathway responds with excessive inflammation of the affected areas causing damage, formally known as reperfusion injury. Death and disability following myocardial infarction (heart attack) and cerebrovascular accidents (CVAs or strokes) is partially due to the response of the lectin pathway.
Consequently, researchers have discovered a method of neutralizing the responsible enzyme by adding a therapeutic antibody to the bloodstream. They have shown that a single antibody injection in animals, following ischemia, is enough to disrupt the inflammatory process to ensure less tissue and organ damage and improved outcomes.
Accordingly, this research could lead to the development of an injection for humans that would significantly reduce tissue damage and impaired organ function resulting from ischaemia in heart attack and stroke patients.
In addition, this type of injection has shown improved results following transplant surgery in animals. Therefore, this type of injection could prove to be valuable in any type of surgery where blood flow is interrupted.
?For more than seven years, the University of Leicester team has been working closely with a commercial partner, Omeros Corporation in Seattle (USA), to develop therapeutic antibodies for research and clinical applications. Omeros holds exclusive worldwide intellectual property rights to the MASP-2 protein, all therapeutic antibodies targeting MASP-2 and all methods for treating complement-mediated disorders by inhibiting MASP-2. The company has already begun manufacturing scale-up of an antibody for use in human clinical trials.?
Thus, patients may one day soon receive injections upon arrival to the hospital emergency when suffering a heart attack or stroke with the expectation that any resulting damages will be less severe and their outcomes will be more positive.
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