Lake Forest, CA - Rubicon Biotechnology, LLC announces the publication of preclinical results for our lead platform technology, Fv-Hsp72, for the treatment of stress injuries caused by a myocardial infarction. The article titled “Cardioprotective effects of HSP72 administration on ischemia-reperfusion injury", by collaborators from Rubicon and the laboratory of Jagat Narula, MD, PhD, Associate Dean for Global Affairs, Professors of Medicine, Cardiology and Radiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, was published in the Sept 19th, 2017 issue of JACC (Journal of the American College of Cardiology).
The article demonstrates the therapeutic potential of administering Fv-Hsp72 before or after reperfusion of a myocardial infarction to mitigate the damage to heart muscle (43% less cellular damage as assessed by SPECT; P = 0.0003), improved heart function (27% higher Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction as assessed by echocardiography; P = 0.022), and 42% lower levels of Troponin I release (a blood marker indicating heart damage; P = 0.043).
The study involved thirty rabbits divided into five cohorts: three cohorts received controls (either saline, Fv fragment by itself or Hsp72 by itself) and two were used for treatment (Fv-Hsp72 given just prior or immediately after reperfusion). Heart attack was experimentally induced in the rabbits by completely blocking the major heart artery by surgical ligation of the left coronary artery. In humans, complete occlusion of the equivalent coronary artery results in a major heart attack, commonly called the “widow maker”. The ligature was removed from the rabbit artery after 40 minutes, restoring blood flow after the heart attack was induced by the hypoxic event. Myocardial damage following release of the ligature parallels reperfusion injury in humans that occurs after relieving the occlusion with angioplasty and stent placement. The animals were then assessed using techniques that are standard in humans. All results met the threshold of being statistically significant.
In an accompanying editorial entitled Delivering Instant Heat: Shocking the Heart, Dr. Roberta Gottlieb of Cedars Sinai Medical Center, who was not part of the research team, wrote “The study by Tanimoto et al. was performed in rabbits, a more translationally relevant model than rodents, adding to its impact.” She added, “Nonetheless, delivery of cell-permeable molecular chaperones holds great promise in a variety of settings, including acute myocardial infarction.” “We are equally excited by the results of this study and the opportunity to work with a world-class cardiac researcher of Dr. Narula’s caliper” stated Missag H. Parseghian, PhD, Rubicon’s CSO and co-primary author on the publication. “This is a landmark study in the rapid delivery of heat shock proteins as therapeutics.”
Tanimoto, Parseghian, Nakahara, Kawai, Narula, Kim, Nishimura, Weisbart, Chan, Richieri, Haider, Chaudhry, Reynolds, Billimek, Blankenberg, Sengupta, Petrov, Akasaka, Strauss, and Narula. 2017. Cardioprotective Effects of HSP72 Administration on Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury. JACC 70 (12): 1479-1492.
About Rubicon Biotechnology
Rubicon Biotechnology is a privately held biotechnology company that develops targeted, life-saving technologies in the areas of cardiology, defense countermeasures, neurology and oncology. Rubicon has in-licensed two platform technologies for drug development. The first is “Antibody Mediated Transduction of Heat Shock Proteins into Living Cells” from the Veterans Administration. This technology delivers heat shock protein, a key protein which saves injured cells that suffer hypoxic and oxidative stresses that unfortunately occur following common tissue injuries, such as heart attack, stroke and traumatic brain injury. The second technology, “Modified Non-Internalizing A5 Variants," licensed from MosaMedix B.V., delivers immunostimulants to tumors in order to enhance the immune system’s ability to fight cancer. With support from several SBIR and CounterACT grants, and in collaboration with major institutions in the U.S., Rubicon is developing these targeted therapies with the goal of improving health outcomes and saving lives.