Patients with chronic bronchitis, bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis, asthmatic bronchitis and asthma have inspissated mucus and plugs of highly viscoelastic mucus. The inability to clear this mucus leads to impaired airway function and gas exchange and consequent morbidity and mortality. Present pharmacological therapies to treat such abnormalities, although widely applied in clinical practice, are inadequate and many have little or no scientific basis. BioTechPlex proposes to demonstrate the mechanisms of action and efficacy of a new therapeutic regime (BTP1000) to hydrate the airways and enhance mucociliary clearance.
The specific aim of this Phase I project is to provide the preliminary data to support the novel intracellular mechanisms underlying the rationale for the use of BTP 1000 to increase airway hydration and ciliary beat frequency; factors that can be predicted to increase the clearance of secretions from the lungs. BioTechPlex will utilize its in-depth expertise in the mechanisms governing ion and water transport across epithelium and ciliary activity as well as its advanced technologies for the investigation of these airway epithelial functions. In the Phase II project the mechanisms of action of BTP1000 will be further expanded, validated and shown to substantially increase bronchial mucociliary clearance in dogs with minimal side effects.
