cubiform · Development of mucosal vaccines based in crosslinked-mucin glycoproteins and chitosan-based nanodevices
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2021-05-01 → 2023-04-30
- EU contribution
- €160,932
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Development of mucosal vaccines based in crosslinked-mucin glycoproteins and chitosan-based nanodevices
Mucin is a family of glycoproteins found in mucus that have important functions related to mucosal health. Mucins have a common core structure and show glycans, uncharged or negatively charged, exposed to the external environment that vary on either inner and outer conditions. Once isolated mucins cannot self-crosslink anymore. The candidate discovered a method for mucin crosslinking that result in biomimetic mucus gels (BMG) of potential use for researching and biomedical and veterinary applications. Chitosan (CS) is a family of positively charged polymers obtained from chitin. Despite chitin is water-insoluble, it can be deacetylated to yield CS that show interesting properties such as non-toxicity. CS can be used for the development of drug delivery systems (DS). Scientific research studies have shown that mucin and CS can interact between them although the specific interaction mechanism between both molecules is unknown yet. The overall goal of the action was to characterize the effect of a BMG on the immune system of fish and to glean a deep understanding of the interactions between CS and mucin, and to use all the information obtained to develop new methods for mucosal vaccination strategies. Given the importance of the discovery of BMG, this technology is under patent filling stage. Therefore, no results can be shown yet. Regarding the interaction between mucin and CS, it has been analysed by using several techniques such as Langmuir Blodgett films.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
This Project aims to evaluate a biomimetic mucus gel (BMG) for its use as mucosal vaccine and mucosal restoration for farmed fish. In addition, through a joint experimental and computational approach, rationalizing the design of chitosan (CS)-based nanodevices (ND) to load in BMG to apply on both healthy and disrupted mucosal surfaces. The aim of this project is to develop a treatment for improving animal health and welfare that are important goals in blue economy . The research work will be developed by the applicant, Dr. Collado González, in the group of Prof. María Ángeles Esteban (supervisor) at the University of Murcia (UM, host). Farmed fish constitutes an essential way for providing dietary proteins and nutrients and they are used as a medical research model. In 2016 in EU, aquaculture resulted in about 75000 jobs and 1.3 million tonnes of aquatic animals which resulted in a gross value added of €2 billion in 2017. In fish, all surfaces are covered with mucus layer that is connected to the mucosal immunity. Mucins (MUC) are glycoproteins present at any mucosal surface . Among other functions, MUC increase lubricity of the mucosa and avoid infection by pathogens. CS refers to a family of aminopolysaccharides that have been proposed for the treatment of pathologies related to MUC. The characterization of the effects of the BMG on the metabolic and phagocytic activities as well as the viability of immune system cells will allow to optimize the BMGs to develop an effective mucosal treatment. A key issue in the development of applications in the field is that MUC and CS are families of flexible polymers with high variability in their properties and behaviour, reason why their interactions at the molecular level are difficult to unravel and not fully understood. Elucidating the main physicochemical forces behind such interactions will allow the optimization of transmucosal CS-based ND.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSIDAD DE MURCIA · MurciaCoordinatorSpain
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union