NIH R01 · 2024
Controlling complement to unleash nanomedicine for acute critical illnesses
ABSTRACT / SUMMARY Acute critical illnesses rapidly lead to severe organ damage and loss of life. These illnesses include sepsis, stroke, and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Here we focus on ARDS, which is acute inflammation of the lungs’ air sacs, and the cause of death in COVID-19. For ARDS and these other diseases, we have developed ligand-targeted nanocarriers that localize drugs to the inflamed microvasculature of affected organs. As we moved towards clinical translation, we found the key step is gaining control of complement, a set of plasma proteins that bind microbes and aid their clearance. But we found complement-nanoparticle interactions are a “double-edged sword”,…
From the public funding record at NIH RePORTER. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.