New albumin-based drug will improve tomography accuracy

New albumin-based drug will improve tomography accuracy 
Russian chemists have developed an organic preparation used by doctors before a session of magnetic resonance imaging using contrast substances. Scientists have modified the blood plasma protein albumin by introducing nitroxyl radical molecules into it. Unlike previous similar drugs, the new one does not contain toxic metals in its composition, and also increases the accuracy of MRI. The research is supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation. Scientists reported on their work in the journal Molecules, briefly told about them in a press release of the Russian Research Foundation.

The standard method of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is based on the phenomenon of nuclear magnetic resonance of hydrogen atoms. First, a powerful constant magnetic field builds up the direction of the magnetic moments of the nuclei - spins. Then, under the influence of a variable magnetic field, they begin to move, which creates an electromagnetic signal that captures the tomograph and on its basis creates an image of the object under study. The tissues are differently saturated with hydrogen, so when measuring the electromagnetic response areas of the body will be different. MRI is best suited for analyzing organs that contain the most water, such as the brain or blood vessels. But sometimes this method has to be applied to other parts of the body, and the patient is prescribed a course of special drugs that improve the "visibility" of the MRI machine. In particular, this approach is used when searching for minor metastases. However, such drugs contain toxic metal gadolinium, so the European Medicines Agency has limited access to these substances for physicians - now the introduction of contrast drugs is possible only in small doses and in cases where a contrast tomography is necessary.

"Chemists have long noticed the potential of organic drugs to perform contrast MRIs. Our scientific team has set itself the task of finding an organic substance that meets four parameters: it should be present in the patient's body, it should have a small active concentration, high solubility and compatibility with the body. As a result, we chose human serum albumin, a protein contained in blood and cerebrospinal fluid. Albumin-based drugs have been used for MRI before, but in our study we decided to develop the potential of this protein. By combining the spatially difficult to influence external factors nitroxyl radicals and serum albumin, we obtained four varieties of our drug HSA-NIT", - says project manager Igor Grigoriev, head of the laboratory of nitrogenous compounds of the Novosibirsk Institute of Organic Chemistry named after N.N. Vorozhtsov.

During the tests, scientists tested the drug resistance and showed its low toxicity at the level of natural protein. It is known that the nitroxyl radical is gradually restored in the body with the help of natural reducing agents - in this parameter HSA-NIT exceeds its predecessors by many times. The scientists also noted that the protein in the drug is removed from the human blood within 25 days - in the case of metal-containing contrast substances for such a time the patient's health could deteriorate due to their toxicity, but with HSA-NIT there is no such risk, and the window for MRI imaging increases.

A study of Russian chemists has shown that the use of serum albumin in contrast preparations will help to improve the productivity and accuracy of the MRI process. Scientists believe that in the future it is possible to greatly increase the number of nitroxyl radicals in the drug to continue improving MRI with the use of contrast agents, because even the current accuracy of the tomography may not be enough to diagnose some diseases. The next goal of the researchers will be to develop new conjugants for greater tissue contrast in the patient. 

Johannes Röll

Johannes Röll was born 1978 in Brilon,Germany. Graduated RWTH Aachen University. Over the past ten years he worked as Head of the plastic card team, where he was mainly responsible for the development of the distribution, Head of sales Department and Financial Analyst,where he got experience in planning and support sales figures for branches. For the present he works as freelancer

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