Protein may reduce need for transplantation in patients with fulminant hepatitis
Cardiotrophin-1 increases survival in animals with acute liver failure, according to study published in Journal of Virology
Scientists at research center (CIMA ) of the University of Navarra and high school of Biomedicine (IBIOMED) of the University of León have demonstrated that a protein, cardiotrophin-1 (CT-1), increases the survival of animal models with fulminant hepatitis caused by the RHD virus. The work, which is part of the research center Biomedica de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBERehd), has been published in the Journal of Virology, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
Acute liver failure is a very rare disease (about two thousand cases per year in the United States), characterized by massive destruction of liver tissue due to viral infections, ingestion of toxic products or autoimmune reactions. The only treatment is liver transplantation, but 30% of patients die without having undergone transplantation.
CT-1 is a protein that performs natural defense functions against cell death in the liver. Researchers from IBIOMED at the University of León and CIMA at the University of Navarra studied its therapeutic effect in models that developed acute liver failure after inoculation with the RHD virus. "We found that while all infected animals died within 3 days, 70% of the models treated with CT-1 survived long-term deadline. These surprising therapeutic effects are due to the fact that CT-1 attenuates inflammation and increases the production of molecules with hepatoprotective and pro-regenerative activity," explain Dr. Mª Jesús Tuñón and Dr. Jesús Prieto, coordinators of work.
The results of the research suggest that this protein may be a useful treatment in situations of severe acute liver damage. Based on these findings, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has designated CT-1 an "orphan drug" for acute liver failure. "If we confirm its effectiveness in clinical trials, we would have a drug that could improve the prognosis of this class group of patients and reduce the need for transplantation in such cases," says Dr. Prieto. Digna Biotech, business biotechnology company focused on the development of the products researched at CIMA, is planning to start Phase I clinical trials in the coming months.