Antibodies against rabies
Yeast will save you from rabiesSTRF.ru
According to experts, rabies is still an almost incurable disease.
In the world, up to 50 thousand people die from it every year, and the infection continues to grow. Russia, unfortunately, also does not lag behind this sad statistics.
Researchers of the Scientific Center for Molecular Diagnostics and Treatment, headed by the head of the Biotechnology Department, Peter Sveshnikov, with state support from Rosnauki, have begun developing the technology for the production of the first domestic rabies drug. According to the authors' plans, therapeutic antibodies against pathogens will be produced by genetically modified yeast.
According to experts, rabies is still an almost incurable disease. In the world, up to 50 thousand people die from it every year, and the infection continues to grow. As noted by Pyotr Sveshnikov, Russia also does not lag behind this sad statistics.
The only way to treat rabies at the moment is the use of special therapeutic antibodies, the so–called anti-rabies immunoglobulins. Antibodies (or immunoglobulins) are special proteins formed in the body in response to the ingress of foreign substances, in particular, rabies pathogens, and neutralizing their harmful effects. If a person falls ill with rabies, then the virus, initially entering the blood, manages to hit the cells of the central nervous system (CNS) before the body has time to develop its own antibodies in the blood. Following the virus, antibodies are no longer able to penetrate into the cells of the central nervous system. Therefore, it is impossible to do without an urgent injection with a solution of ready-made antibodies.
Until recently, rabies medicine was obtained by purifying immunoglobulins isolated from the blood serum of horses, but such drugs are not always effective enough. That is why, as part of a new ambitious project, scientists plan to take the first real step towards developing a domestic drug against rabies based on so-called humanized antibodies. The researchers intend to partially change the genotype of antibodies produced in mice to gene constructs peculiar to human ones. Moreover, as Peter Sveshnikov explained, rabies antibodies will be able to produce special genetically modified yeast, which will significantly reduce the cost of the finished drug. As part of the project, scientists also intend to develop a full-cycle technology for obtaining therapeutic antibodies against rabies using genetically modified yeast, which will form the basis for the production of a new drug.
By the way, as noted by Peter Sveshnikov, although more than two dozen drugs based on therapeutic antibodies are already allowed to be used in the world, there are still no domestic ones among them, although scientific research in this direction has been conducted in Russia since the mid-1980s.
As for humanized rabies antibodies, then, as Peter Sveshnikov explained, there is already at least one antibody-based drug CR4098 in the world, developed by Crucell (Netherlands). It is in the first phase of clinical trials. "Of course, our pharmaceutical companies could theoretically acquire a license to produce the drug abroad, but, according to the data I know, the price of such transactions is about $ 200 million, which is approaching the annual turnover of leading domestic pharmaceutical manufacturers," Sveshnikov stressed. According to the researcher, the only alternative way to import a modern drug against rabies is its development in Russia.
The planned completion date of the project is the end of September 2010. The total amount of state support will be seven million rubles.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru09.07.2009