Zarrinpar Laboratory finds that engineering of native bacteria for therapeutic applications facilitates long term engraftment and treatment
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San Diego, Aug. 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Endure Biotherapeutics, Inc. Announces Publication of Founder’s Seminal Work Regarding Colonizing Biotherapeutics
Zarrinpar Laboratory finds that engineering of native bacteria for therapeutic applications facilitates long term engraftment and treatment
SAN DIEGO – August 15, 2022 – Endure Biotherapeutics, Inc. (Endure Bio®), a leader in the field of engineered microbial therapeutics with the goal of treating gastrointestinal and metabolic disorders, announced the publication of the seminal paper from the laboratory of Amir Zarrinpar, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at UC San Diego, Endure Bio founder and Chief Medical Officer. The paper from Dr. Zarrinpar and his colleagues, “Intestinal Transgene Delivery with Native E. coli Chassis Allows Persistent Physiological Changes” has been published in the journal Cell on August 14.
Endure Bio, the exclusive licensee of this UCSD technology, was founded to pursue the development of live engraftable biotherapeutics to not just treat but potentially cure patients with chronic diseases utilizing Dr. Zarrinpar’s breakthrough technology incorporating Engineered Native Bacteria (ENB). Unlike other companies pursuing development of therapeutics based on laboratory strains of bacteria, Endure Bio uses native bacteria isolated from human and other mammalian hosts which are subsequently modified to treat specific diseases. As described in the Cell paper, Dr. Zarrinpar discovered that bacteria sourced from the mammalian host, engineered to produce a beneficial transgene and reintroduced to a host of the same species, can survive and engraft which results in sustained physiological change in the host and amelioration of chronic diseases.
“From the company’s perspective, this means that we can use human-derived microbes to produce the therapies that they need, thus leading to the development of a wide variety of live biotherapeutics,” said Dr. Zarrinpar. “Figuring out how to construct engineered bacteria that can colonize and consistently express an engineered gene is going to be key to making live therapeutics work for human diseases. Studies had shown that bacteria that are already members of the gut microbiome can attain long-term colonization. We now show that these bacteria can be used to introduce therapeutic functions and ameliorate disease. Therefore, ENB are the key to treat a range of chronic and recalcitrant illnesses not only restricted to digestive disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease, but also metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and even rare genetic disorders. It’s incredibly rewarding to see our academic team’s achievements and to see how they might translate into a new class of biotherapeutics.”