Advantages
- Comparable in efficacy to the standard-of-care pre-natal steroid treatment
- Without the severe side effects associated with steroids.
Technology
Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), a deficiency in lung development, is a frequent complication of preterm delivery. RDS is a leading cause of neonatal mortality, or, in case of survival, of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a chronic lung disease. Fatality is due to insufficient surfactant production by type II pneumocytes, leading to an increased surface tension, promoting alveolar collapse and preventing sufficient gas exchange.
VIB research under the supervision of Peter Carmeliet, has unambiguously substantiated that the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is indispensable in surfactant production and hence lung maturation.
Preclinical validation provided evidence that pulmonary VEGF treatment was both effective and safe:
In mice, VEGF injection in the amniotic fluid before birth or intra-tracheal administration after birth stimulates conversion of glycogen to surfactant, improves lung function and protects preterm mice against RDS and increases survival.
In fetal rabbits, intra-tracheal injection of VEGF - after tracheal ligation - stimulates lung growth and surfactant expression.
Experiments without tracheal occlusion and with intra-amniotic injection of VEGF in fetal rabbits and lambs are on-going.
IP position
Title: "VEGF as a medicament to treat RDS"
Granted Patents in US, EP, AU (patent application number WO 02/086497), Pending counterpart in CA
Priority Date 24th of April 2001