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(Alliance News) - Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals PLC on Friday said research has shown that its proprietary chimeric bait receptor can be delivered into the brain through programmed microglial cells and could be used for the treatment of brain cancers and some neurodegenerative diseases.
Shares in Hemogenyx rose 6.7% to 3.28 pence each in London on Friday morning.
Hemogenyx is a London-based biopharmaceutical company focused on treatments for deadly blood diseases. CBR is a platform technology under development that aims to program the immune cells that are responsible for innate immunity to eliminate viruses and certain malignant cells.
Hemogenyx said it has developed a method of transplantation of human hematopoietic stem cells that allows their engraftment and differentiation into microglial in the brains of immune-compromised mice.
The microglial cells that have been armed with CBR could potentially be able to find and destroy either brain cancer cells or abnormal protein aggregations, the company explained.
Research continues on CBR, Hemogenyx said, and added that it intends to increase its focus on this.
Founder & Chief Executive Officer Vladislav Sandler said: "This major breakthrough in the method of delivery of our CBR into the brain is a unique tool that may allow us to successfully tackle some of the most difficult and often incurable human diseases. As we broaden the scope of use for our CBR platform, we are eager to continue its development."
On Wednesday, Hemogenyx reported that CBR can be delivered intranasally in the form of messenger RNA for the "potential" treatment of airborne viral infections.
Research showed that nanoparticles created by mixing mRNA encoding a CBR-based therapeutic with a solvent and a polymer can be used to deliver CBR-coding into the upper respiratory tract, Hemogenyx said.
"Once administered, nanoparticles were shown to successfully deliver mRNA into the immune cells of the URT and lungs. The immune cells in turn begin making CBR molecules within hours post-application, potentially becoming active "defenders" against airborne infections," it explained.
Hemogenyx also has been testing CBR on SARS-Cov-2, the virus which causes Covid-19. Results have shown that "human macrophage cells programmed with CBR against SARS-CoV-2 are effective in vitro experiments," it explained. In November, it also tested the potential use of CBR for the treatment of non-hodgkin lymphoma.
By Sabrina Penty, Alliance News reporter
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