The Problem that Rubicon is Solving
There are many areas of the body that experience serious, life threatening acute assaults. Our technology, administered once after the acute event, helps the affected organ rapidly recover and reduces the amount of permanent cellular damage that would otherwise occur.
Rubicon has programs in the following unmet medical needs
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Myocardial Infarction
In heart attacks, the heart is damaged at the cellular level by the hypoxic stress caused by the ischemic event itself and, ironically, by the oxidative stress caused by restoration of blood flow following commonly used reperfusion procedures. This damage leads to worsening organ function, lower quality of life and increased morbidity and mortality following the event.
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Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
TBI is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. At last estimate, 2 million new cases of TBI occur every year in the US, of which 70,000-90,000 victims suffer long term disability and another 50,000 succumb to their injuries. From the year 2000 through the 3rd quarter of 2013, all four branches of the armed services reported 287,911 cases of TBI.
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Ocular Damage after a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
TBI survivors are often saddled with chronic neurological problems, including visual dysfunction. The visual problems can be acute or chronic. Heat shock protein 72 (Hsp72) plays a significant role in the attenuation of symptoms that lead to neuronal degeneration and cell death.
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Central Retinal Artery Occlusion
It is estimated that 1 in 100,000 people will experience a central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO) accompanied by acute monocular vision loss. If resolved by reperfusion, 80% of patients have a visual acuity of 20/400 or worse. The body’s natural response to ocular trauma is the induction of heat shock protein 72, but unfortunately, Hsp72 induction can require several valuable hours while a patient is in jeopardy of permanent vision loss.
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Acute Toxic Inhalation
Inhalation of toxic gas, whether by industrial accident or terrorism, is a major concern in the US. The EPA identified over a hundred chemical plants in the US where a terrorist attack or accident could potentially expose more than a million people to a cloud of toxic gas.
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Chronic Heart Disease
Heart failure (HF) is a leading cause of hospitalization in the US and lack of treatment options has made it an unmet medical need. Common causes of HF include ischemic heart disease, including myocardial infarction (MI). Cardiac cells respond to HF and MI by induction of heat shock protein Hsp72. Hsp72 has also been shown to inhibit ER stress-induced apoptosis.
Rubicon’s Solution
Fv-Hsp72 will deliver heat shock protein 72 (Hsp72) in therapeutic quantities directly into damaged cells
Fv-Hsp72 is a fusion protein created by Dr. Richard Weisbart and Dr. Robert Nishimura at UCLA. The Fv moiety is an antibody fragment that specifically targets the endogenous DNA that is released from cells. The Hsp72 is a “heat shock protein” which helps with the proper folding of newly synthesized proteins within the cell. However, Hsp72 has multiple other roles including, during cell stress, it binds to critical proteins that are damaged and become misfolded. Hsp72 binds to these critical proteins and protects them from aggregation and cellular destruction, thereby inhibiting these processes. Hsp72 also has a role binding and inhibiting the activities of several key proteins involved in multiple apoptotic pathways; hence, the increased presence of this protein in a dying cell may rescue its viability.