Patent Awarded for Lipid Treatments on Lung Infections

(Mikael Häggström/Wikimedia Commons)

A researcher at National Jewish Health, a medical center in Denver, received a patent for methods using naturally occuring lipids to treat infections and inflammation in the lungs. U.S. patent number 8,367,643 was awarded last month to professor of medicine Dennis Voelker and assigned to National Jewish Health.

Lipids are oil or fat molecules that in this case have surfactant properties, which lower the surface tension of fluids. The patent covers the lipid compound palmitoyl-oleoyl-phosphatidylglycerol or POPG, and related lipids that occur naturally in the lungs. Voelker’s research supporting the patent found these lipids can reduce lung inflammation and infections, such as influenza and respiratory syncytial virus or RSV.

Respiratory syncytial virus can infect the lungs and breathing passages, and most healthy people recover from the infection in one to two weeks. However, the infection can be severe in some infants, young children, and older adults. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis, an inflammation of the small airways in the lung, and pneumonia in children under 1 year of age in the U.S.

POPG is found in the air sacs of the lungs, and is one of the lipids that lines the air sacs. Other lipids and proteins in this surfactant fluid can prevent collapse of the air sacs and contribute to innate immunity. As a result, the patent covers the application of POPG and related lipids for the prevention of inflammation, as well as treatment.

These naturally occuring lipids have advantages over some current antiviral proteins, says Voelker, “because they are less likely to elicit unwanted immune responses, are more chemically stable, and less expensive to manufacture than proteins.”

Voelker tells more about his research involving POPG in the following video.

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