Tufts Medical Center receives grant to explore Pepducin
treatments for acute cardiovascular indications
$1.7 million awarded by the National Heart Lung
and Blood Institute of NIH
BOSTON, Mass. (December 21, 2009) - Tufts Medical Center today announced that it has been awarded a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support research of a newly discovered pathway and therapeutic target that may contribute to the escalation of coronary heart disease and stroke. This novel pathway is believed to play an important role in the early stages of arterial thrombosis, which increases incidence of morbidity and mortality in patients suffering from acute cardiovascular stress. The grant will be used to further validate early research and support development of potential new treatment options, including a new class of molecules known as Pepducins.
“Cardiovascular disease, particularly coronary heart attack and stroke, remains the major underlying cause of death in the United States,” commented Dr. Athan Kuliopulos, the grant’s principal investigator and an Associate Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry, and Director of the Hemostasis and Thrombosis Laboratory in the Molecular Oncology Research Institute at Tufts Medical Center. “This award validates and supports our efforts to use breakthrough Pepducin technology to target pathways which are believed to underlie complications in acute cardiovascular indications and the project results could potentially benefit patients being treated for these serious diseases.”
This two-year $1.7 million grant is based on the earlier discovery of the new thrombosis pathway and will allow Dr. Kuliopulos and co-investigators to expand on preliminary investigations of the novel Pepducin technology to inhibit pathways leading to arterial thrombosis. Dr. Kuliopulos and co-investigators from the Tufts Medical Center recently published a paper in Cell demonstrating a previously unknown direct signaling role for matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) in the initiation of thrombogenesis through activation of protease-activate receptor-1 (PAR-1). This research identified MMP1-PAR1 as an important potential target for the prevention of the early activation phase of platelet clotting and coagulation in acute cardiovascular indications. Under the grant, researchers will study the therapeutic potential of the MMP1-PAR1 target using Pepducins, which are small cell-penetrating lipopeptides. Investigators chose this approach because Pepducins can access the inside surface of a cell to target the specific interaction implicated in the novel coagulation pathway. The project goal is to support this therapeutic mechanism to interrupt multiple coagulation initiation pathways and block the escalation of acute thrombosis. Pepducin technology was invented in the lab of Dr. Kuliopulos and is licensed exclusively to Ascent Therapeutics in Cambridge, Mass.
The grant is a Grand Opportunities (GO) grant by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the NIH and is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) of 2009. GO Grants support projects that address large, specific biomedical and biobehavioral research endeavors. The Recovery Act specific GO grants program was designed to support research projects that accelerate critical breakthroughs on cutting-edge technologies. The initiative seeks to provide an influx of funds to address specific questions in areas of high scientific interest.
About Pepducin Technology
The Pepducin technology platform is being used to develop novel, small lipopeptide allosteric modulators for intractable G protein coupled receptor (GPCR) targets. Pepducins are composed of a short peptide derived from a GPCR intracellular loop joined to a hydrophobic moiety. This structure allows Pepducin lipopeptides to anchor in the cell membrane and target the GPCR protein via a unique intracellular allosteric mechanism. The Pepducin technology platform represents an entirely new paradigm for modulating GPCR signal transduction from the inside surface of the cell membrane, potentially transforming the scope of GPCR therapeutics to treat a much wider range of serious illnesses. Pepducin technology is licensed exclusively to Ascent Therapeutics in Cambridge, Mass. For more information, please visit www.ascentrx.com.
About Tufts Medical Center
Tufts Medical Center is an exceptional, not-for-profit, 451-bed academic medical center that is home to both a full-service hospital for adults and Floating Hospital for Children. Conveniently located in downtown Boston, the Medical Center is the principal teaching hospital for Tufts University School of Medicine. Floating Hospital for Children is the full-service children's hospital of Tufts Medical Center and the principal pediatric teaching hospital of Tufts University School of Medicine. For more information, please visit www.tuftsmedicalcenter.org.
Media Contacts
Tufts Medical Center
Julie Jette
(617) 636-3265
jjette@tuftsmedicalcenter.org
Ascent Therapeutics
Jacqui Miller
(781) 235-3060
jmiller@macbiocom.com