Animated mode of action
As a carbohydrate-binding antibody approaches the cell surface it attaches to free monovalent sugars. Due to the low affinity or attraction of monovalent interactions the free carbohydrate ligands do not successfully bind the antibody and cannot prevent it from binding to the cell surface.
The mucin-type inhibitor of Recopharma, on the other hand, can bind to several of the arms of the antibody. The higher affinity thus obtained assures that the antibody stays bound.In the process, the mucin also sterically hinders the antibody from reaching the cell surface.
Likewise, a virus or a bacterium approach-ing the cell surface is prevented from binding to the cell surface. In addition, the relatively large and multivalent mucin is able to aggregate in-coming bacteria to further shield them from the cell surface.
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IPR Technology platform
Recopharma's core competence in the field of carbohydrate-based therapeutics is focused on vaccine adjuvants and anti-microbials that prevent microbial attachment to host cells.
Applied properly, our expertise in these areas will enable us to solve many of the problems associated with the use of carbohydrates as therapeutics. This, in turn, will open a wide range of business opportunities. Our propriety technology not only allows biosynthetic construction of the desired carbohydrate structure in a multivalent fashion, but also makes it feasible to modify any desired carrier protein with that particular structure. These two areas of Recopharma's research utilize the potential of recombinant mucins produced in glyco-engineered host cells. The multivalency of the highly glycosylated recombinant proteins enables high-affinity binding between the potential therapeutic and its receptor (e.g. a viral carbohydrate binding protein), thus mimicking natures own way of fine-tuning protein-carbohydrate interactions and avoiding the pitfalls of the low-affinity binding of previously used, rather non-sophisticated monovalent molecules. (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1. The Recopharma solution relies on the production of recombinant mucin-type immunoglobulin chimeras carrying the desired carbohydrate determinant in a multivalent fashion (illustration to the right) as opposed to free saccharides (illustration to the left).
1. Vaccine adjuvant. Mucins carrying alpha-Gal or mannosylated structures will enhance the immune response through amplified antigen presentation. Initial in vivo studies are very promising as they have shown that the adjuvant elicit both Th1 (cytotoxic T-lymphocytes) and Th2 (initiates antibody production in B-cells) responses. The former response has proven difficult to achieve with the adjuvants currently present on the market. It is expected that less immunogen and fewer doses of a particular vaccine can be used if combined with the Recopharma adjuvant. This could give the customer, e.g. a large pharmaceutical or biotech company, a novel vaccine formulation that can be patented. It would also provide a more efficient product with fewer side effects. There are numerous potential customers who are interested in out-licensing such a formulation.
2. Anti-microbial adhesion. Mucins preventing microbial attachment to host cells, with the first target microbes being oculotropic viruses causing epidemic keratoconjunctivitis (eye infection). These viruses are highly contagious and it is estimated that up to 40 % of all conjunctivitis cases are of viral origin. Today, no curative is available for treatment of viral conjunctivitis. The estimated value of the anti-infective eye care market in 2007 was 0.5 BUSD.