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During the conversation, Nadir Arber warns that “it is necessary to maintain a bit of humility” pending new clinical trials, but enthusiasm is not hidden by the first results that demonstrate the innovative treatment created by the team of this Israeli professor and doctor in Ichilov hospital. , Tel Aviv.
It is not a “cure for covid-19” or a substitute for “essential vaccines”, but it may be an essential step to “turn the tide” in this fight against the virus and drastically reduce mortality in the most serious cases of disease..
The enthusiasm with which the discovery was announced to the world is based on figures: so far, in the first phase of clinical trials, 35 patients (aged 37 to 77 years) with moderate to severe symptoms of Covid-19 have been treated with the EXO. -CD24, the drug created by the team led by Nadir Arber. And “almost all recovered between three and five days after starting the treatment, except one, who recovered later,” says the Israeli researcher, in a conversation promoted by videoconference with some media around the world, including the DN.
EXO-CD24 combines two elements that the team was used to working with for several years in the field of cancer research: the CD24 protein, which “allows to regulate the response of the immune system”; and exosomes, “Nanovesicles excreted by cells and that will establish intercellular communication,” says Arber.
What EXO-CD24 does is load these exosomes with CD24 proteins and direct them nasally (inhaling a spray, once a day, for a few minutes, for five days) “directly to the center of the storm: the lungs,” explains Nadir. Arber.. There, these proteins will be able to combat what is identified as “the main cause of the 5% to 7% of covid-19 cases that evolve into severe forms of the disease.” That is to say, the so-called “cytokine storm, which occurs when our immune system has an excessive and uncontrolled response, beginning to attack healthy cells.”
Sónia Melo, Cancer researcher at the Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (i3S) of the University of Porto, is well aware of the role and potential of the two elements combined in this Israeli compound. “CD24 is a very important molecule because it can control the response of the immune system. But the great innovation presented here is the way it is administered, ”says the DN, about the localized administration method created by the Israeli team.
And he explains: “Systemic, intravenous or oral administration is one thing, which can spread to multiple organs and cause various unwanted side effects; an on-site administration is another thing, which is what happens here. It is almost a topical application, it is a delivery directed to the place, in this case the lungs, through these exosomes administered nasally.“Therefore, exosomes are” a kind of relay “that will deliver CD24 proteins directly” to lung tissues attacked by infection, allowing inflammation and the severity of the reaction to be greatly reduced. “
A complement to vaccines
At a time when the world follows with great expectation the implementation of vaccination plans, the development of drugs that can effectively treat symptoms is another way that “should not be overlooked” in the plan to combat COVID-19. “They are an important complement to vaccines,” says Sónia Melo.
“The vaccine attacks the source of the problem, the treatment attacks the symptoms. It will not eliminate the virus or decrease its ability to replicate, but it can be a very effective solution in treating symptoms, in controlling the disease.”
Nadir Arber also stresses that the response to the new coronavirus must be an integrated response. In Israel, the country in the world that is most advanced in terms of vaccinations, hospitalization and mortality rates have decreased considerably and the opening of the economy is already on the horizon. “We have about half of the population already immunized. Vaccines work,” he says.
But it also recalls the uncertainties about the duration and degree of effectiveness of this immunity, doubts reinforced by the appearance of new, more aggressive variants of the virus. And being able to have a “drug that acts on the most serious inflammations” is an “asset that can change the course not only in the fight against covid, but also in other diseases. respiratory diseases, infections or autoimmune diseases. “
Cheap and easy to produce, waiting for more tests.
To validate the enthusiasm for the EXO-CD24 However, there are still some steps to take, acknowledges Nadir Arber. How to “move to phase 2 and 3” trials with larger patient samples and “join a placebo group [doentes a quem é dada uma substância inerte]”, to evaluate” more rigorously the efficacy of the treatment. “
This does not prevent the world from looking with renewed interest at the already known results. That and the fact that it is “a cheap and easy compound to produce”. “Interest has come from almost everyone.”acknowledges the Israeli researcher.
