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The activity of Peptide T22 as antimicrobial drug opens new possibilities for the local control of bacterial infections related to tumors

Researchers of NANBIOSIS Units 1 and 18, from CIBER-BBN at the Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina (IBB-UAB) and the Institut de Recerca Sant Pau (IIB-Sant Pau) presents the finding of a significant antimicrobial activity in the targeting peptide T22, which is used for antitumor therapy directed against CXCR4 + stem cells, with clinical interest in more than 20 types of human cancer, including colorectal cancer.

The study describes how said activity has a significant effect on several bacterial species of clinical importance: “we have detected antimicrobial activity associated with T22 and inhibition of biofilm formation on Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, explains Antonio Villaverde, one of the coordiantors of the study . The researcher adds that “the T22 peptide does not show cytotoxicity on mammalian cells or hemolytic activity and is active when it is shown in protein nanoparticles through genetic fusion.”

For the develiopment of this research protein production was partially performed by the unit 1 of the ICTS NANBIOSIS, Protein Production Platform (PPP).

In short, the discovery of T22 as AMP is of interest, not only because of its addition to the catalog of antibacterial drugs, but its clinical uses could allow its combined and multivalent application in complex clinical conditions, such as colorectal cancer, which could benefit from the synchronous destruction of cancer stem cells and local bacterial biofilms.

The stable collaboration between the NBT group led by Esther Vazquez and Antonio Villaverde, the GOA group led by Ramón Mangues and the spin-off of the UAB Nanoligent, develops systemic targeted therapies using T22 to functionalize different types of cytotoxic nanoparticles, with which the destruction of metastatic stem cells and the consequent reduction in the number of metastases. “The dual activity of T22 as a targeting agent and as an antimicrobial drug may offer a new local treatment route, through which bacterial infections related to the development and progression of tumors are controlled locally,” the authors conclude.

Article of reference:

Naroa Serna, José V. Carratalá, Oscar Conchillo-Solé, Carlos Martínez-Torró, Ugutz Unzueta, Ramón Mangues, Neus Ferrer-Miralles, Xavier Daura, Esther Vázquez, and Antonio Villaverde. 2021. “Antibacterial Activity of T22, a Specific Peptidic Ligand of the Tumoral Marker CXCR4” Pharmaceutics 13, no. 11: 1922. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics13111922

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Collaboration of two NANBIOSIS units in the Valorisation Project “ADVERT”

The Project ADVERT (Advanced Extracellular Vesicles for Enzyme Replacement Therapy) is a research valorisation project recently granted by CIBER.

The project pursues to advance the development of extracellular vesicles as treatments for lysosomal diseases, specially to bring new therapies to treat FABRY disease.

The ADVERT Project will count on the active particpation of two NANBIOSIS units of CIBER-BBN:

The project will be financed with € 20,000.

The CIBER-BBN transfer program

The CIBER-BBN transfer program through its call for transfer and valorization projects has been designed to promote the transfer to the industrial sector of scientific or technological results derived from the research carried out by the CIBER-BBN groups. These transfer projects will make it possible to support the commercialization of said results, since there is a company that has shown interest in them and that provides at least, the same financing than CIBER-BBN for their achievement.

The call for valorisation projects is in its fourth edition, having already financed a total of fourteen projects.

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A more effective nanomedicine has been developed for the treatment of Fabry rare disease.

28 February: International Rare Disease Day

  • This is one of the major achievements of the European Smart4Fabry project, which is now coming to an end after four years of work.
  • The results have been made possible by nanotechnology and the approach developed could be applied to other drugs in the future.
  • The new drug improves on current treatments and helps reduce costs and improve patients’ quality of life.

Barcelona, 26 February 2021.- The advance of nanomedicine opens up new possibilities in the development of drugs, such as the one recently developed for the rare disease Fabry, with improved efficacy compared to existing authorised treatments.

Thus, the European Smart4Fabry project has come to an end with one of the best results possible: the designation of a new orphan drug by the European Commission and the possibility of making progress in the treatment of Fabry, a rare disease that is estimated to affect approximately 2.6 out of every 10,000 people in the EU.

It is a chronic debilitating disease due to recurrent episodes of severe pain that is difficult to control with conventional analgesics, and it is life-threatening due to renal failure and associated cardiovascular and cerebrovascular complications.

“With this designation we have made a major achievement, not only for Fabry patients, but also for other pathologies that can benefit from this same approach, made possible by nanotechnology,” explained Nora Ventosa, Scientific Director of NANBIOSIS Unit 6 Biomaterial Processing and Nanostructuring Unit of CIBER-BBN and ICMAB-CSIC who coordinated the project.

Need for new treatments for the disease

This disease, also known as Anderson-Fabry disease, represents the most common lysosomal storage disorder. It is caused by an absence or deficiency of the enzyme α-galactosidase A (GLA), which results in the lysosomal accumulation of globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) and its derivatives in the lysosomes of a wide variety of tissues, responsible for the clinical manifestations. Current treatments consist of intravenous administration of the GLA enzyme, but have limited efficacy and poor biodistribution.

The drug that has been developed is a new nanoformulation of GLA (nanoGLA) that improves efficacy compared to the reference treatment with non-nanoformulated GLA. “The third-generation liposomal product we have developed in the project has demonstrated, at preclinical level, improved efficacy, compared to authorised enzyme replacement treatments, demonstrating that the strategy of supplying the affected cells with the GLA enzyme via the smart nanoliposome is highly successful”, explained Ibane Abasolo, Scientific Coordinator of NANBIOSIS U20 of CIBER-BBN and VHIR, who is responsible for the efficacy studies in the project.

The nanoGLA product was obtained using DELOSTM formulation technology, an innovative platform for the robust production of nanomedicines in an efficient and sustainable manner.

The Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products, the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) committee responsible for recommending orphan designation of medicines for rare diseases, has considered these results to have a clinically relevant advantage over current enzyme replacement therapies.

The designation of orphan drug, in addition to recognising the significant benefit of the new nanomedicine over products already licensed for Fabry disease, has important implications for the translation of the new therapeutic product from bench to bedside.

Those responsible for these results, including several CIBER-BBN groups, highlight that the new formulation helps to improve treatments, reduce costs, and improve the quality of life of Fabry patients.

Interdisciplinarity and public-private collaboration

The Smart4Fabry project has been running since 2017 thanks to European funding of €5.8 million, from the Horizon 2020 programme. This was possible thanks to the collaboration of several CIBER-BBN groups and NANBIOSIS Units at the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) with the abouve mentioned NANBIOSIS Unit 6, the Institute for Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia (IQAC-CSIC) with NANBIOSIS Unit 3 of
Synthesis of Peptides Unit, led by Miriam Royo, the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) with NANBIOSIS Unit 20 and the Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (IBB-UAB) with NANBIOSIS Unit 1 Protein Production Platform (PPP), whose work in this project was led by José Luis Corchero. It has also been necessary to contribute knowledge from different academic and business disciplines.

The project consortium also includes public institutions such as the University of Aarhus (Denmark), Technion Israel Institute of Technology (Israel) and Joanneum Research (Austria); and the companies Biokeralty (Spain); Nanomol Technologies SL (Spain); BioNanoNet (Austria), Drug Development and Regulation SL (Spain), the Covance Laboratories LTD group (UK) and Leanbio SL (Spain), which have provided the necessary expertise in nanotechnology and biotechnology, physicochemical characterisation, in vitro and in vivo biological evaluation, formulation and grading of nanomedicines, and pharmaceutical development and production under the guidelines of regulatory agencies.

CIBER and CSIC, promoters of orphan drugs

Orphan Drug Designations (ODDs) seeks to facilitate the arrival of treatments for rare diseases on the market. Several incentives are associated with ODDs, such as market exclusivity, fee reductions and specific scientific advice.

To date, CIBER has promoted eleven orphan drugs designated by the EMA, mainly from the thematic area of Rare Diseases (CIBERER), this being the first from CIBER-BBN.

On the other hand, this is the fourth ODD that the CSIC has obtained, and the first time it refers to a nanoformulated drug.

Orphan drug designation by the European Medicines Agency has several advantages, such as receiving a commercialisation authorisation for 10 years during which similar products cannot be commercialised, the availability of free or low-cost scientific advice and support protocols, and exemption from designation fees. In addition, entities developing orphan drugs have access to specific grants from the European Union and member states’ programmes.

More information

Scientific Culture Unit UCC+i CIBER cultura.cientifica@ciberisciii.es

Other related news

Smart-4-Fabry final workshop
Rare diseases Day February 29: combating Fabry Disease
Fabry disease & Smart4Fabry project
Lysosomal Rare Disorders: Focus on Fabry Disease
Fabry disease awareness month, April
“a-Galactosidase A Loaded Nanoliposomes with Enhanced Enzymatic Activity and Intracellular Penetration”

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An Auristatin-based nanoconjugate reduces leukemia burden in a disseminated AML model

Researchers of the Nanotoxicology Unit of the the CIBER-BBN ICTS NANBIOSIS (u18-nanotoxicology-unit), leaded by Ramon Mangues and Isolda Casanova at the Research Institute of the Hospital de Sant Pau and of the NANBIOSIS (nanbiosis.es) Protein Platform (u1-protein-production-platform-ppp) leaded by Antonio Villaverde and Neus Ferrer Miralles of the Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, have developed a novel protein-Auristatin nanoconjugate that specifically targets CXCR4-overexpressing acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells. It selectively accumulates in target cancer cells expressing this receptor and deliver the toxin Auristatin within their cytosol. There, Auristatin potently blocks microtubule polymerization, provoking mitotic catastrophe, followed by apoptotic induction. Since Auristatin can kill both cycling and quiescent cells, the administration of the nanoconjugate at repeated dosage is able to dramatically reduce the leukemia burden in circulating blood, bone marrow, liver and spleen; thus, producing a potent antineoplastic effect, in the absence of systemic toxicity.

It is known that CXCR4 overexpression is involved in bopne marrow colonization by leukemic cells, displacing normal hematopoietic stem cells, an effect that associates with quiescence, resistance to classical chemotherapy, development of minimal residual disease and relapse, which leads to shorter patient survival.  Therefore, this Auristatin-based nanoconjugate could be a novel approach for the treatment of CXCR4-overexpressing AML that relapses after classical chemotherapy, offering hope to an effective clinical translation and industrial transfer, aqn activity that which could increase the effectiveness of AML treatment while reducing the adverse effect associated with current therapy.

Reference:

Pallarès V, Unzueta U, Falgàs A, Sánchez-García L, Serna N, Gallardo A, Morris GA, Alba-Castellón L, Álamo P, Sierra J, Villaverde A, Vázquez E, Casanova I, Mangues R. An Auristatin nanoconjugate targeting CXCR4+ leukemic cells blocks acute myeloid leukemia dissemination. doi: 10.1186/s13045-020-00863-9.

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A nanotoxin targeting the receptor CXCR4 blocks lymphoma dissemination

Researchers at the Nanotoxicology Unit of CIBER-BBN ICTS NANBIOSIS (u18-nanotoxicology-unit), led by Ramon Mangues and Isolda Casanova of the Research Institute at the Hospital de Sant Pau and the Researchers of the NANBIOSIS (nanbiosis.es) Protein Production Platform (u1-protein-production-platform-ppp) led by Antonio Villaverde and Neus Ferrer Miralles of the Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, have participated in the development of a novel protein nanoparticle that incorporates the Exotoxin of the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa, capable of targeting lymphoma cells that overexpress the CXCR4 receptor.

They internalize selectively in target cancer cells through CXCR4 receptor-mediated endocytosis due to the incorporation in its nanostructure of the T22 peptide ligand, with multivalent display (10 peptides per nanoparticle). In addition, it contains an endosomal escape domain to avoid lysosomal degradation to achieve the delivery of undegraded exotoxin in the target cancer cell cytosol. There, the exotoxin blocks protein translation by inhibiting the elongation factor 2, leading to the induction of apoptosis in a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma model blocking their dissemination throughout the body, in the bone narrow, lymph nodes and the liver. Since lymphoma cells overexpressing the CXCR4 receptor are associated with increased dissemination and resistance to Rituximab plus CHOP chemotherapy, this novel nanomedicine could be useful for its clinical translation, especially for the treatment of lymphoma patients that relapse after classical chemotherapy.

The bioluminescent follow-up of cancer cells and toxicity studies has been performed in the ICTS NANBIOSIS using its CIBER-BBN Nanotoxicology Unit Protein production has been also performed at the ICTS NANBIOSIS  Init 1 PPP

Reference:

Falgàs A, Pallarès V, Serna N, Sánchez-García L, Sierra J, Gallardo A, Alba-Castellón L, Álamo P, Unzueta U, Villaverde A, Vázquez E, Mangues R, Casanova I. Selective delivery of T22-PE24-H6 to CXCR4+ diffuse large B-cell lymphoma cells leads to wide therapeutic index in a disseminated mouse model. doi: 10.7150/thno.43231. eCollection 2020.

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Identification of a novel nanotherapy active in cancer cells resistant to chemotherapy

Researchers of the Nanotoxicology Unit (u18-nanotoxicology-unit) led by Ramon Mangues and Isolda Casanova at the Research Institute of the Hospital de Sant Pau and the Protein Production Platform (u1-protein-production-platform-ppp), led by Antonio Villaverde and Neus Ferrer Miralles of the Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, both belonging to the ICTS NANBIOSIS (nanbiosis.es) of the CIBER-BBN, have participated in the production of a novel Nanotoxin capable of selectively killing cancer cells which became resistant to chemotherapy. Development of cancer resistance frequently associates with the overexpression of the CXCR4 receptor.

It is known that chemotherapy kills cancer cells, mainly, by induction of apoptosis, after damaging the cell DNA; therefore, to survive resistant cancer cells develop anti-apoptotic mechanisms. In contrast, a Nanotoxin that has incorporated the exotoxin of Corynebacterium diphtheriae and a targeted ligand that selectively internalizes in CXCR4+ cancer cells, exploits a mechanism of cell death alternative to apoptosis, thus, effectively killing resistant cancer cells in a colorectal cancer model.  The new mechanism is the induction of a blockade of protein translation, by inhibition of the elongation factor 2, which renders sensitive to therapy cancer cells resistant to chemotherapy.

The described work opens a new avenue for the exploration of antitumor activity in cancer that relapses after current therapy, an unmet medical need in oncology, and therefore, it could have an important impact in cancer patient well being.

Reference:

Naroa Serna, Patricia Álamo, Prashanthi Ramesh, Daria Vinokurova, Laura Sánchez-García, Ugutz Unzueta, Alberto Gallardo, María Virtudes Céspedes, Esther Vázquez, Antonio Villaverde, Ramón Mangues, Jan Paul Medema. Nanostructured toxins for the selective destruction of drug-resistant human CXCR4 + colorectal cancer stem cells. doi: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2020.01.019.

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NANBIOSIS Scientific Women in the International Day of Women and Girls in Science

Today February 11 is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, a day to raise awareness of the gender gap in science and technology.

According to the United Nations, while yet women and girls continue to be excluded from participating fully in science, science and gender equality are vital to achieve the internationally agreed development goals, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Thus, in recent years, the international community has made a great effort to inspire and promote the participation of women and girls in science.

NANBIOSIS wants to acknowledge  the efforts made by scientific women who struggle every day to contribute their bit to Science and highlight their essential role in nowadays research. Especially we want to recognize the work of scientists women involved in NANBIOSIS, whatever is the nature of their contribution: technical, scientific development, management, coordination, direction, etc; just to mention some examples:
Neus Ferrer and Mercedes Márquez in the Scientific Direction and Coordination of Unit 1 Protein Production Platform (PPP)
Pilar Marco and Nuria Pascual in the Management and Scientific Coordination of U2 Custom Antibody Service (CAbS) 
Miriam Royo in the Scientific Direction of U3 Synthesis of Peptides Unit
Nora Ventosa and Nathaly Segovia in the Scientific Direction and Technical Coordination of U6 Biomaterial Processing and Nanostructuring Unit
Isabel Oliveira and Teresa Galán in the Coordination of U7 Nanotecnology Unit
Rosa Villa and Gemma Gabriel in the Management and Scientific Coordination of U8 Micro – Nano Technology Unit
Gema Martínez in the Scientific Coordination of U9 Synthesis of Nanoparticles Unit
Fany Peña in the Scientific Coordination of U13 Tissue & Scaffold Characterization Unit
Mª Luisa González Martín and Margarita Hierro in the of Direction and Scientific Coordination of U16 Tissue & Scaffold Characterization Unit
Gemma Pascual and Isabel Trabado in the Coordination of the U17 Confocal Microscopy Service
Isolda Casanova in the Scientific Coordination of U18 Nanotoxicology Unit
Beatriz Moreno in the Scientific Direction of Unit 19 Clinical tests lab
Ibane Abásolo in the Scientific Coordination of Unit 20 In Vivo Experimental Platformt
Verónica Crisóstomo in the Scientific Direction of Unit 24 Medical Imaging 
Ana Paula Candiota in the Scientific Coordination of Unit 25 Biomedical Applications I 
Maria Luisa García in the Scientific Direction of U28 NanoImaging Unit from Bionand, recently incorporated to NANBIOSIS, Anna Aviñó in the Scientific Coordination of U29 Oligonucleotide Synthesis Platform (OSP) – and

Nerea Argarate in the coordination of NANBIOSIS

Thanks to all of you and your teams!

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Design and engineering of tumor-targeted, dual-acting cytotoxic nanoparticles

In the frame of the collaboration of three units of NANBIOSIS, researchers of CIBER-BBN Groups proposed a strategy to simultaneously deliver anticancer drug pairs, composed by a tumor-targeted protein nanoparticle and an antiproliferative drug, with specific activ-ity for the same type of cancer.

These three units are:

The results on the investigation have been published in an article entitled “Design and engineering of tumor-targeted, dual-acting cytotoxic nanoparticles”· by Acta Biomaterialia

The researchers have explored the possibility to conjugate tumor-targeted cytotoxic nanoparticles and conventional antitumoral drugs in single pharmacological entities using CXCR4-targeted self-assembling protein nanoparticles based on two potent microbial toxins, the exotoxin A from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the diphtheria toxin from Corynebacterium diphtheriae, to which oligo-floxuridine and monomethyl auristatin E respec- tively have been chemically coupled.

The resulting multifunctional hybrid nanoconjugates, with a hydro- dynamic size of around 50 nm, are stable and internalize target cells with a biological impact. Although the chemical conjugation minimizes the cytotoxic activity of the protein partner in the complexes, the concept of drug combination proposed is fully feasible and highly promising when considering multiple drug treatments aimed to higher effectiveness or when facing the therapy of cancers with acquired resistance to classical drugs.

Thus, these results open a wide spectrum of opportunities in nanomedical oncology.

Article of reference:

Eric Voltà-Durán, Naroa Serna, Laura Sánchez-García, Anna Aviñó, Julieta M. Sánchez, Hèctor López-Laguna, Olivia Cano Garrido, Isolda Casanova, Ramón Mangues, Ramon Eritja, Esther Vázquez, Antonio Villaverde, Ugutz Unzueta Design and engineering of tumor-targeted, dual-acting cytotoxic nanoparticles. Acta Biomaterialia, Volume 119, 1 January 2021, Pages 312-322), 57746-57756 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actbio.2020.11.018 

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Smart-4-Fabry final workshop

Next Wedneday, February 3, 2021 will take place the on-line event Smart-4-Fabry Final Workshop.  

Smart-4-Fabry is a european project, coordinated by CIBER-BBN wich has been developed during four years. This project is a sign of cooperation at European level to boost nanomedicine development and translation to clinical stages.

This project is also a clear example of the relevance of access to advanced research infrastructures as NANBIOSIS -ICTS. Four NANBIOSIS units have collaborated and contributed to Smart-4-Fabry development:

“The Fabry disease (FD) is a lysosomal storage disorder (LSD) that currently lacks an effective treatment” as Prof. Nora Ventosa, IP of the project, explained for NANBIOSIS blog – The aim of Smart-4-Fabry is to obtain a new nanoformulation of GLA, that will improve the efficacy and toleration compared to the actual treatment with non-formulated GLA.

In the final workshop experts will talk about how, why and for what the solution proposed by Smart4Fabry was conceived.

Registrations and program at https://smart4fabry.cientifis.com/

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The Autonomous University of Barcelona, in the elite of the 300 best universities in the world

The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), known as Shanghai Ranking, which was made public on August 15, places the Autonomous University of Barcelona among the elite of the 300 best universities in the world and the first of the Spanish universities.

This indicator organizes up to 20,000 university centers worldwide,
based on transparent methodology and objective third-party data. ARWU is regarded as one of the three most influential and widely observed university rankings

The Autonomous University of Barcelona houses two of NANBIOSIS Units:

U1 Protein Production Platform (PPP), led by Toni Villaverde, Neus Ferrer and Paolo Saccardo, offer an “tailored” service for the design, production and purification of recombinant proteins using both prokaryotic and eukaryotic expression systems

U25 NMR: Biomedical Applications I, led by Carles Arús and Ana Paula Candiota, with a recognized research track record in the use of NMR as a tool for biomedical applications, and more especifically to identify biomarkers of different pathologies, the main objective of this unit is the acquisition, processing and/or interpretation of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance data



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