ARMAGEN TECHNOLOGIES, INC. — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) Type IIIA, also called S
ARMAGEN TECHNOLOGIES, INC. — SBIR Phase I award from Department of Health and Human Services.
- Amount
- $152,138
- Agency
- Department of Health and Human Services · National Institutes of Health
- Program / Phase
- SBIR · Phase I
- Solicitation
- PA13-234
- NAICS
- —
- Place of performance
- CA
- Period
- —
Description
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) Type IIIA, also called Sanfilippo A syndrome, is a genetic disease caused by mutations in the gene encoding the lysosomal enzyme, N-sulfoglucosamine sulfohydrolase (SGSH), also called sulfamidase. Symptoms including neurodegeneration and mental retardation appear during infancy or childhood; and early death occurs due to organ damage in the brain. Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) cannot treat the brain, since recombinant SGSH does not cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Accordingly, clinical trials on the treatment of children with MPSIIIA with intravenous recombinant SGSH have been abandoned. The present work will re-engineer human SGSH to enable transport across the BBB using a molecular Trojan horse technology. A molecular Trojan horse is a genetically engineered peptidomimetic monoclonal antibody (MAb) against an endogenous BBB peptide receptor, such as the human insulin receptor (HIR). The human SGSH is fused to the heavy chain of th