Nanobac Pharmaceuticals has announced that it has entered into an agreement and started work on an animal model to validate a proof of concept that calcifying nanoparticles (CNPs), also known as nanobacteria, promote gallstones.
If the proof is validated, it will solve the ages-old mystery of what provokes black pigment gallstones affecting millions of persons, and forge a path to effective early diagnosis and therapy where none are presently available. Results are expected by year-end 2006. Because these gallstones contain material similar to that in kidney stones and breast cancer calcifications, the results could apply to other unsolved calcification-related conditions as well.
The agreement was signed with the same scientific team who, in "An Animal Model of Black Pigment Gallstones Caused by Nanobacteria" published in the June 2006 edition of the peer-reviewed journal Digestive Diseases and Sciences, established that calcifying nanoparticles promote black pigment gallstones in rabbits when injected into the gallbladder.
The study concludes, "We successfully cultured nano-sized particles coated with hydroxyapatite from human gallbladder bile and confirmed that they were nanobacteria by their typical growth rates, optical properties, specific stainability with Hoechst 33258, and by immunologic methods. By the animal experiment, we demonstrated for the first time that black pigment gallstones could be promoted by nanobacterial infection."
The initial study was conducted independent of Nanobac Pharmaceuticals and was not funded from any corporate source.
Abstract of that study is available at PubMed.
The Principle Investigator is Dr. LiMin Wang, from Shantou University Medical College, Guangdong, China. Results will be verified by a team consisting of a former Merck executive and other U.S. experts in urology and infectious diseases.
Nanobac is the only Company with regulatory approval of diagnostics that can accurately identify these calcifying particles. The Company is also expecting to start a clinical trial on a promising therapy for such stone-forming diseases by the fourth quarter of 2006.
http://www.nanobac.com
Posted 25th August 2006
