Enzyme drugs

Reversing lung damage

Hemopexin is an innovative enzyme drug that shows promise for treating respiratory damage caused by sickle cell disease and exposure to toxic halogens such as chlorine gas. Research by the University of Alabama at Birmingham in collaboration with AntoXa scientists has demonstrated that recombinant human hemopexin, generated in plants using the vivoXPRESS^® platform, was equally effective in reversing lung and mitochondrial injury caused by exposure to chlorine gas.

A recent study showed how injection of human hemopexin mitigated  the onset of lung and mitochondrial injury and the increase of plasma heme due to exposure to Cl₂ gas , and reversed damage to proteins in the lung proteome.

The results of this study offer new insights as to the mechanisms by which exposure to Cl₂ results in acute lung injury and to the therapeutic effects of hemopexin.