STTR Phase I: Bioengineering lung surfactant for the treatment of respiratory disease

该小企业技术转让（STTR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是开发一种合成肺表面活性剂产品，用于治疗新生儿患者的严重呼吸系统疾病。 支气管肺发育不良每年影响10，000 - 15，000名早产儿，死亡率高。未成熟的肺组织暴露在空气中会导致炎症并损害肺和气道。减少支气管肺发育不良预计将减少婴儿住院天数，补充氧气的需要以及医疗保健系统的其他负担。目前，支气管肺发育不良婴儿在新生儿重症监护室的平均住院时间为103天。这项小企业技术转让（STTR）第一阶段项目可能会导致合成蛋白质的生物工程肺表面活性剂，含有全长关键磷脂和抗炎剂的配方。目前，生物工程肺表面活性剂在治疗与支气管肺发育不良相关的疾病（如新生儿呼吸窘迫综合征）方面不如动物源性肺表面活性剂有效。全长，天然表面活性剂蛋白的合成尚未实现。本研究旨在合成蛋白质，这可能会增加显着的粘弹性肺表面活性物质。该蛋白质将与主要的表面活性剂磷脂和抗炎治疗剂以规定的比例组合，以潜在地产生具有抗炎特性的全合成肺表面活性剂制剂。这些表面活性剂配方将筛选在体外和体内使用新生大鼠高氧模型的支气管肺发育不良。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准的支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project is to develop a synthetic lung surfactant product for the potential treatment of serious respiratory illnesses in neonatal patients. Bronchopulmonary dysplasia affects 10,000-15,000 pre-term infants per year and has a high mortality rate. Exposure of immature lung tissue to air results in inflammation and damages lungs and airways. Decreasing bronchopulmonary dysplasia is anticipated to reduce the number of days infants spend in the hospital, the need for supplemental oxygen, and other burdens on the healthcare system. The average length of stay in the neonatal intensive care unit for an infant with bronchopulmonary dysplasia is currently 103 days.This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project may result in the formulation of synthetic proteins for a bioengineered lung surfactant that contains full-length critical phospholipids and anti-inflammatory agents. Currently, bioengineered pulmonary surfactants are not as effective as animal-derived pulmonary surfactants for the treatment of illnesses related to bronchopulmonary dysplasia such as neonatal respiratory distress syndrome. The synthesis of full-length, native surfactant proteins has yet to be achieved. This research seeks to synthesize proteins which may add significant viscoelasticity to the pulmonary surfactant. The protein will be combined with major surfactant phospholipids and anti-inflammatory therapeutics at defined ratios to potentially generate fully-synthetic pulmonary surfactant preparations with anti-inflammatory properties. These surfactant formulations will be screened in vitro and in vivo using a neonatal rat hyperoxia model of bronchopulmonary dysplasia.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.