Better treatment found for lung cancer
Singaporean scientists have found a better treatment for patients with lung infections (such as pneumonia), which was responsible for almost one in five deaths on the island in 2013.
They have created an antibody that stops the work of a protein called angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4) in the human body.
When a healthy person suffers from a lung infection, such as influenza or severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), the body defends itself through a process called inflammation.
The ANGPTL4 protein causes the blood vessels in the lung to become “leakier”, so that white blood cells and other antibodies can enter the lungs to fight the infection.
But for some people, the protein continues to make the blood vessels leaky, even after the bacteria, virus or parasite causing the infection has been flushed out of the body.
This inflammatory overreaction causes fluids to build up in the lungs, and internal bleeding, harming the patients and slowing down their recovery.
Doctors typically treat lung infections now with antibiotics if they are caused by bacteria.
The antibody created by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) scientists to stop the protein has already been licensed to two multinational biotechnology companies: Abcam, which is based in Britain, and Adipogen International, which is based in the United States.
The two firms will produce the antibody for sale to other organisations involved in vaccine and drug development against diseases, which can include cancer.
When the antibody was given to mice suffering from pneumonia and influenza, and which had high levels of the ANGPTL4 protein, they recovered more rapidly than the mice that did not get the antibodies.
Associate Professor Andrew Tan, from NTU’s School of Biological Sciences, said: “While it will take up to eight years to develop the antibody into a useable treatment for human patients, we are currently developing a diagnostic kit that should be commercialised in three years.”
The kit will detect the concentration of the ANGPTL4 protein in patients so doctors can diagnose the severity of their pneumonia and see if the treatment is working.
The scientists have tested it successfully using blood and sputum samples from patients but said a larger human clinical trial is needed to validate the results. Sputum is the mucus from lungs produced through coughing.
The research was led by Prof Tan and involved scientists from the National University of Singapore and doctors from the National University Health System.
The work was published in scientific journal Cell Reports last Friday.
