Elastrin Develops a Means to Break Down Calcification of Tissues

Calcification of tissues is one of the mechanisms by which stiffening occurs in the cardiovascular system, leading to a range of increasingly serious downstream consequences. The evidence of recent years suggests that chronic inflammation and the harmful signaling of senescent cells are a major cause of cells in blood vessel walls inappropriately taking on osteoblast-like behavior, depositing calcium into the extracellular matrix as though they are building bone. Among the many other consequences, this process damages the elastin molecules in areas in which it occurs, and the approach taken by biotech startup Elastrin Therapeutics is to use that damage as a target in order to deliver nanoparticles that will remove the calcification. It is an interesting approach. Elastrin, a biotechnology start-up leveraging a platform technology to develop therapeutics that render calcified tissue and organs supple again, will receive seed funding from Kizoo Technology Capital. It is the latest addition to the growing portfolio of Kizoo, a rejuvenation biotech investor focused on reversing age-related damage on a cellular and molecular level. Elastrin's lead asset is a nanoparticle conjugated with a novel monoclonal antibody to treat heart valve and vascular calcification. The platform targets and restores degraded elastin by removing the harmful calcification that stiffens arteries, improving the efficacy of drugs and eliminating side-effects by combining particle design with elast...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs