Respiratory Reinforcements

Courtesy Photo | Healthy Alveoli: Healthy lungs allow for efficient oxygen exchange within the alveoli (tiny air sacs at the end of narrow passageways within the lungs). Fluid-Filled Alveoli: When an individual is affected by acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), the alveoli fill with fluid as a result of the inflammation process and become less efficient at gas exchange. This causes difficulty in breathing and reduced oxygen delivery to vital organs. (Getty images by Refluo)  

FT. BELVOIR, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES

06.22.2023

Courtesy Story

Defense Threat Reduction Agency's Chemical and Biological Technologies Department

Reinforcing the lungs at the cellular level can support the warfighter against a variety of threats.

The ability to breathe freely can easily be taken for granted. While the lungs are the workhorse of the respiratory system, they are vulnerable to chemical and biological threats and biological weapon agents, including the causes of anthrax and plague. Multiple classes of chemical threats can cause lung injury, including choking agents and blister agents that can directly damage lung tissue as soon as inhaled. Nerve agents and opioids, which although not lung specific, can also induce inflammation in the lungs.

To help manage acute respiratory injuries, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s (DTRA) Chemical and Biological Technologies Department in its role as the Joint Science and Technology Office (JSTO) for Chemical and Biological Defense, an integral component of the Chemical and Biological Defense Program, invested in a joint project at City College of New York and Columbia University to research the possibility of controlling lung inflammation. The investigators proposed that limiting the body’s inflammatory response after a lung insult will prevent the escalation of a pathological process that can lead to pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome.

The team sought to limit lung inflammation by reinforcing the internal structure, or cytoskeleton, of injured cells to minimize the release of inflammation signals from those cells. Human cells have proteins that function to physically support and shape the cells by forming the cytoskeleton. The cytoskeleton is remodeled according to cell needs for both routine functions and emergency responses. In the case of damage that induces inflammation, lung cells partially disassemble the cytoskeleton to begin repairs and to release signals for increased fluid release, blood flow, and further amplification of the emergency response. While these processes are intended to help stop damage and begin repair, they can get out of control to interfere with healthy breathing.

DTRA JSTO seeks to continue developing an activated Rac1 intracellular signal protein as a potential therapeutic for managing inflammation-based threats to lung health. The protein could be developed as an inhalable treatment given after exposure to any number of exposure risks including vapor or aerosol chemical agents, respiratory-involved biological agents, respiratory infectious diseases such as coronavirus disease and adenovirus, and environmental threats including toxic industrial chemicals and toxic fumes.

This approach can address a diverse range of threats and makes this therapeutic candidate unique in the Joint Force medical portfolio. In addition, the protein has demonstrated an ability to be beneficial even when administered days after exposure, which suggests that the treatment can be used effectively well after the casualty has been removed from a threatening environment.

POC: LCDR David M. Wolfe; [e-mail]

• Date Taken: 06.22.2023
• Date Posted: 06.22.2023 14:06
• Story ID: 447756
• Location: FT. BELVOIR, VIRGINIA, US