Great ambitions of St. Petersburg biomedicine

St. Petersburg firms will freeze cancer and fight Parkinson's disease

Sofia Vertiporokh, for " <url>"In February, several St. Petersburg biomedical companies became participants of the Skolkovo Innovation Center.

Then their management expressed rather ambitious plans. To cure Russians of cancer, to develop new methods of treating severe wounds, to conduct a comprehensive DNA diagnosis of the population of the country. The correspondent of Fontanka found out how Petersburgers will do it, and how much money is needed for their ideas to reach the market.

Silver the woundsThe head of the research Laboratory of Clinical Pathophysiology of the Military Medical Academy, Professor Vladislav Popov, has been treating severe wounds for many years.

During the war in Afghanistan, he led a group of scientists who studied injuries caused by modern types of firearms. For seven years he traveled from Leningrad to the main hospital of the 40th Army in Kabul and the medical battalion of the fighting division in the village of Bagram. And I noticed: something is wrong with the treatment of our soldiers.

"We weighed necrotic tissues excised from patients immediately after injury, and then – on the third or fourth day during repeated surgical treatment. It turned out that the volume of dead tissues in the second case, 30% of soldiers had more than in the first. That is, negative processes developed in the wounds, despite early surgical intervention. And even experienced surgeons could not prevent it," says Vladislav Popov.

The treatment technology had to be improved. But how? In the 80s of the XX century, doctors guessed about this, but they could not realize their ideas. Only in the early 2000s, with the development of nanotechnology, it became clear: the problem lies... in a bandage that is applied to the wounds.

"The victims on the battlefield are still receiving first aid "the old-fashioned way." Stop the bleeding, close the wound with an individual dressing package – cotton-gauze pads and a bandage, – says Popov. – Such a system does not provide for an active effect on the wound process. But already at this stage, the metabolism in the tissues sharply increases, the so-called “exchange fire" develops. A large number of aggressive elements accumulate in the area of damage." Ordinary cotton wool and gauze cannot resist this.

Bioactive wound coatings should be used instead, Popov believes. These are new generation bandages that can effectively affect the wound in the first minutes after their application. The professor and his colleagues have developed two coating models – based on bacterial cellulose and acrylamide hydrogel. Both are saturated with therapeutic nanobiocomposites, for example, the smallest particles of silver, a solution of fullerene C60. "Scientists abroad and in Russia are actively engaged in the development of such coatings. However, none of them affects the main mechanisms of the wound process as comprehensively as ours," Vladislav Popov notes.

Currently, preclinical tests of "nanofibres" are being conducted at the Military Medical Academy. In experimental rats and rabbits, they reduce the healing time of wounds by 17-20 percent. A similar, and maybe even greater effect will be achieved for the wounded and injured soldiers. But to start clinical trials, you need to get a license for inventions. The researchers have already created the firm "Biocomposite", which will apply for a grant to the Skolkovo Innovation Center and to another, independent, investor. Initially, she will request a modest 1.5 million rubles, but in the process of working on the project, the amount of investments may increase tenfold.

If all goes well, the bandages will be on the market in a few years. They will be useful not only for military or emergency situations specialists, but also for civilian doctors.

Simulate "Parkinson's"

Parkinson's disease. Alzheimer's. Huntington's. Progressive supranuclear paralysis. Multisystem atrophy. Truly effective methods of treating these diseases, called neurodegenerative, have not yet been invented. The maximum that modern medicine can offer is relief of symptoms.

"In the next 10 to 15 years, however, the necessary medicines will be created," the employees of the St. Petersburg firm NextGen believe. "The question is how to test them in terms of safety and effectiveness." It is his company that will try to resolve as a resident of Skolkovo.

"What can be a cure for Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease? Given that these diseases are based on gene breakdowns, most likely they will have to be "repaired" at the gene level," says Roman Deev, medical director of the Human Stem Cell Institute, a Moscow company that owns NextGen. – Today, the situation with the testing of such drugs is very difficult. It is impossible and incorrect to immediately conduct human testing based on modern clinical research practice. And you can't model every genetic mutation peculiar to humans on animals."

Therefore, NextGen suggests creating models of neurodegenerative diseases in vitro. "To do this, you can take a biopsy of the cells of the most accessible tissue from the patient, for example, skin,– explains Roman Deev. – With the help of molecular operations, we will “rewind” their history to the earliest, stem state. And then we will “grow old” again, giving any necessary functions. For example, we will "turn" them into neurons of the substantia nigra, due to changes in which Parkinson's disease develops."

The development of cellular models will take several years, the finished product will be intended for pharmaceutical companies. With its help, it will be possible to test drugs for patients with Parkinson's disease or "Alzheimer's patients" as much as you want: it is both ethical and safe. At the same time, cellular test systems are not the only Skolkovo project that the St. Petersburg firm plans to implement. It is possible that together with the parent company, it will also participate in the creation of a DNA chip for the diagnosis of genetic diseases. "It will help to identify a predisposition to more than 450 mutations and polymorphisms, the most characteristic of Russia," Roman Deev explains.

How much money does it take for both developments to enter the market? Deev definitely does not answer this question. "We will apply for a grant in the upper segment of the Skolkovo proposals (the maximum amount provided by the fund is 300 million rubles. – Approx. "Fontanka"), – he says. – At the same time, other external investors for the projects will most likely not be required: The Human Stem Cell Institute itself will co-finance the development."

Freeze cancer

In the hands of the leading researcher of the N. N. Petrov Research Institute of Oncology and the director of the International Institute of Cryomedicine, Professor Georgy Prokhorov, there is a small metal object. From afar, it looks a little like a scalpel, but only from afar. Golden surface. Thickening at one end. A few small valves – just like the buttons of a miniature flute. And – a thin 20-centimeter needle. This is what a cryoprobe looks like – one of the details of a unique cryotherapy system, which a group of St. Petersburg engineers and oncologists is working on.

"It will become one of the tools that will help to implement a new ideology of cancer treatment," the professor is sure. "But that's in the future." So far, the main task of the new device is to save patients suffering from tumors that cannot be surgically removed. For example, the cryoprobe will safely penetrate into the deep parts of the brain, where the surgeon's hands cannot reach, and "kill" cancer cells with the help of cold: the temperature at its end is minus 185 degrees C.

"The development is based on discoveries that were made back in the XX century," explains Georgy Prokhorov. – Then scientists discovered that some neoplasms can be destroyed by low temperature. Thanks to the work of the Research Institute of Cytology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, today we know more: with the help of cold, you can not only “kill” cancer cells, but also significantly increase the number of stem cells around the treated area. And this contributes to the full regeneration of the surrounding tissues."

The first devices allowing to "freeze" tumors inside the human body were created in the middle of the XX century in the USA and the USSR. Since then, there has been an unspoken competition in the world, to which Germany, Israel, and China have already managed to join: cryosystems are becoming cheaper and more convenient, probes are getting thinner. "Today, the diameter of the most perfect probe is 1.42 millimeters. It is part of the American Cryo-CS system. However, its price is too high: the basic equipment costs 430 thousand euros. Moreover, it uses expensive argon for cooling, and cryoprobes can only be used once and they are very expensive," the scientist explains.

The St. Petersburg cryosystem will cost about twice as much and will overcome many of the shortcomings of existing models, the professor promises. The domestic probe with a thickness of 1.35 millimeters will be the thinnest in the world. It will work on liquid nitrogen (25 rubles per liter). "At several St. Petersburg enterprises, we managed to find specialists of the "old school" – craftsmen who know how to make metal tubes with a wall thickness of 50 microns, experts in vacuum and cryogenic technology, laser micro–welding, who can bring these ideas to life," the professor notes.

The International Institute of Cryomedicine is asking Skolkovo for a very large grant – 300 million rubles. "The money is needed to create a unique pilot production," says Georgy Prokhorov. – Now it is necessary to finalize many details – to create a system of multi-channel temperature control, fine cleaning of refrigerant, voice control system, thermally insulated flexible hoses and much more. The cryoprobe is only the "tip" of the system." All this should be done within a year. Otherwise, the Americans and Israelis will have time to fill the Russian market.

PS: Note that, no matter how good the plans of St. Petersburg innovative companies are, they will not necessarily come to life. Any participant of the project can ask for a grant from Skolkovo. But according to statistics, only one out of five residents of the innovation center can get real funding.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru
29.02.2012