A Drug-Free Pathogen Capture and Neutralizing Nasal Spray to Prevent Emerging Respiratory Infections
Year: 2023
Type: preprint
Abstract: Respiratory infections pose a global health crisis. Vaccines are pathogen specific, and new vaccines are needed for mutants and emerging pathogens. Here, we report a “drug free” prophylactic platform - a “Pathogen Capture and Neutralizing Spray” (PCANS) that acts via a multi-pronged approach to prevent a broad spectrum of respiratory infections. PCANS forms a protective coating in the nasal cavity that enhances the capture of large respiratory droplets. The coating acts as a physical barrier against a broad spectrum of viruses and bacteria, and rapidly neutralizes them, reducing the pathogen load by >99.99%. In mice, PCANS showed nasal retention for at least 8 h and was safe for daily administration. A single prophylactic dose of PCANS protected mice against supra-lethal dosages of a mouse-adapted H1N1 Influenza virus (PR8), reduced lung viral titer by >99.99%, improved survival, and suppressed pathological manifestations. Together, our data suggest PCANS as a promising daily-use prophylactic approach against current and emerging respiratory infections.
Authors: John Joseph, Helna Mary Baby, Joselyn Rojas Quintero, Devin Kenney, Yohannes A Mebratu, Eshant Bhatia, Purna Shah, Kabir Swain, Shahdeep Kaur, Xiang-Ling Li, John Mwangi, Olivia Snapper, Remya Nair, Eli Agus, Sruthi Ranganathan, Julian Kage, Jingjing Gao, James N Luo, Anthony Yu, Florian Douam, Yohannes Tesfaigzi, Jeffrey M Karp, Nitin Joshi
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: Brigham and Women's Hospital, Strong
OpenAlex ID: W4387312905