Kerentech

• Compugen Discovered Protein Shown to Abolish Recurring Relapses in Multiple Sclerosis Animal Model

• CGEN-15001 also demonstrates pronounced delay of disease onset and significant decrease in disease symptoms

Existence of B7/CD28 family member initially predicted by Compugen’s LEADS Platform and proprietary algorithm for predicting novel protein family members

Compugen Ltd. (CGEN 3.38, -0.05, -1.46%) announced today that administration of CGEN-15001 in an animal model of multiple sclerosis (MS) has been shown to completely abolish spontaneous relapses. In addition, administration of this novel molecule prior to disease onset demonstrated a pronounced delay of disease onset and a significant decrease in disease symptoms. These results, together with complementary results from earlier studies, strongly support a significant potential therapeutic utility for CGEN-15001 in the treatment of multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, inflammatory bowel disease, and type 1 diabetes.

CGEN-15001 is a soluble recombinant fusion protein comprised of the extracellular region of a Compugen discovered B7/CD28 family member, designated CGEN-15001T. CGEN-15001T, which itself has potential medical utilities – such as serving as a target for antibody therapeutics – was discovered by Compugen through the use of its LEADS platform and a proprietary algorithm designed to predict novel members of known protein families. Patents have been filed for both CGEN-15001 and CGEN-15001T.

The recently completed study of CGEN-15001 utilized the relapsing-remitting autoimmune encephalomyelitis mouse model. This well-recognized animal model of multiple sclerosis manifests an autoimmune CNS demyelinating disease with clinical and pathologic similarity to human relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis is the most common form of MS affecting approximately 85% of the 2.5 million people worldwide diagnosed with MS. Relapses in multiple sclerosis patients result in recurring attacks of clinical symptoms which lead to a worsening of existing symptoms or to the appearance of new symptoms. Thus, prevention of relapses is a major goal in the development of treatments for multiple sclerosis, and the demonstrated therapeutic effect of CGEN-15001 in the presence of this established disease, as demonstrated in this animal model, is highly relevant for its potential use in human therapy.

Professor Stephen Miller from Northwestern University, a leading scientist in this field who supervised the studies, stated, “The capacity of CGEN-15001 to prevent the development of disease in this well-recognized animal model for multiple sclerosis, and more significantly to ameliorate its progression when administered in the presence of pre-existing disease is quite dramatic. Furthermore, these beneficial effects were shown to be long lasting and persisted through the study, indicating that CGEN-15001 may prevent disease progression as efficiently as immune tolerance induction, a process whereby the immune system no longer attacks the self antigens that cause the disease. These findings, together with those demonstrated in our earlier studies, are unique among the molecules targeting the B7 family of co-stimulatory molecules that have been published to date.”

Compugen’s VP R&D, Dr. Zurit Levine stated, “In addition to being an extremely exciting discovery, this is a good example of how our extensive infrastructure of predictive capabilities can be utilized for ‘discovery on demand’ purposes. In this case, we were interested in finding a new member of the B7 protein family, a family of proteins that are widely believed to have substantial therapeutic potential. However, it was our belief that relying only on commonly used discovery approaches, such as sequence and functional homology, which underlie most such efforts by others, would be unlikely to yield all unknown members for this family.”

Dr. Levine continued, “We utilized, therefore, a different predictive discovery approach combining certain components of our LEADS infrastructure platform with a proprietary algorithm that had been developed to predict in silico novel members of a known protein family based on genomic information, protein structure and additional characteristics. This led to the prediction and selection of a number of novel proteins, including CGEN-15001T, and the discovery of CGEN-15001T led to the identification of the CGEN- 15001 protein.”

About the B7/CD28 protein family

Members of the B7/CD28 family have been intensively studied over the past decade and have brought much excitement to the field of immune regulation. The activation and development of an adaptive immune response is initiated by the engagement of a T-cell antigen receptor with an antigenic peptide-MHC complex. The outcome of this engagement is determined by both positive and negative co-stimulatory signals, generated mainly by the interaction between the B7 family and their receptor CD28 family. A growing body of evidence indicates that the dysfunction of immune regulation contributes to the development of autoimmune diseases.

Positive and negative co-stimulatory pathways play critical roles in immune regulation and are considered potential targets for modulating chronic inflammation in autoimmune diseases. To date, one soluble recombinant fusion protein, that selectively blocks the co-stimulatory signal mediated by the B7/CD28 pathway, has been cleared for marketing in the U.S. for the treatment of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, and is in clinical trials for other autoimmune indications. In addition, a number of clinical and preclinical studies of this protein family are underway at various companies.

About LEADS

The LEADS platform provides a comprehensive predictive view of the human transcriptome, proteome and peptidome, and serves as a rich infrastructure for the discovery of novel genes, transcripts and proteins. It includes extensive gene information and annotation, such as splice variants, antisense genes, SNPs, novel genes and RNA editing. At the protein level, LEADS provides full protein annotation, including homologies, domain information, subcellular localization, peptide prediction and novelty status.

About Compugen

Compugen is a leading drug and diagnostic product candidate discovery company. Unlike traditional high throughput trial and error experimental based discovery, Compugen’s discovery efforts are based on in silico (by computer) prediction and selection utilizing a growing number of field focused proprietary discovery platforms accurately modeling biological processes at the molecular level. Compugen’s growing number of collaborations with major pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies cover both (i) the licensing of product candidates discovered by Compugen during the validation of its discovery platforms and in its internal research, and (ii) “discovery on demand” agreements where existing or new Compugen discovery platforms are utilized to predict and select product candidates as required by our partner. In 2002, Compugen established an affiliate, Evogene Ltd. (www.evogene.com) (TASE:EVGN.TA), to utilize certain of the Company’s in silico predictive discovery capabilities in agricultural biotechnology. For additional information, please visit Compugen’s corporate website at www.cgen.com.

Alpha 1-antitrypsine deficiency lung CT scan.JPEG Computed tomography of the lung with thin slices (1 mm) showing emphysema and bullae in the lower lung lobes of a subject with type ZZ alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency. There is also increased lung density in areas with compression of lung tissue by the bullae. Source: Wikipedia

Weizmann Science Park, NESS ZIONA, Israel, July 02, 2010 – Kamada (TASE:KMDA), today announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Glassia™ (Alpha 1 Proteinase inhibitor, also known as Alpha-1-Antitrypsin (AAT) for the treatment of Alpha 1 deficiency (AATD). Glassia™ is now the first and only liquid Alpha- 1-Proteinase Inhibitor worldwide available liquid, ready to use, Alpha- 1-Proteinase Inhibitor on the market.

The FDA approved GlassiaTM following review of Kamada’s Biological License Application (BLA) submitted in May 2009. The FDA’s review included Kamada’s clinical development as well as auditing and approving Kamada’s manufacturing facility, quality assurance and controls.

David Tsur, Chief Executive Officer of Kamada said, “We are very proud with this achievement. This success belongs to each one of the company’s employees. With this unique product, Kamada is able to offer the US Alpha-1 patients a new liquid, ready- to- use drug that may ease their therapy routine and provide an additional high quality product in the US market for the benefit of this community.
We are committed to the Alpha-1 patient community and take great pride in further developments of our second generation product, an inhaled Alpha- 1-Proteinase Inhibitor currently in stage 2-3 clinical development “.

John Walsh, President of the US Alpha-1 Foundation congratulated Kamada, “we are delighted to welcome Kamada to the US market. Glassia™ offers a new and an innovative therapeutic alternative for our patients and we look forward to the company’s entry into our patient community”.

About Glassia
Glassia™ is a unique, high purity, liquid, ready-to-use liquid Alpha- 1-Proteinase Inhibitor that is indicated for chronic augmentation and maintenance therapy in adults with emphysema due to congenital deficiency of alpha1-proteinase inhibitor, also known as Alpha1-Antitrypsin Deficiency. The product is produced using a patented proprietary chromatographic purification method.

About Kamada
Kamada is a public biopharmaceutical company (TASE: KMDA) developing, producing and marketing a line of specialty life-saving biopharmaceuticals. Licensed and marketed worldwide, several of these specialty therapeutics are currently undergoing advanced clinical trials.
Kamada is currently in the process of conducting a clinical trial with its second generation AAT product- an inhaled formula which is currently in a phase 2-3 for the indication of Alpha1-Antitrypsin Deficiency.
Additional information is available at www.kamada.com and on www.myglassia.com

• New Israeli research suggests that schitzophrenia could be prevented if caught early enough.
• If administered in the early-onset stages of the disorder, drugs used to treat schizophrenia may have the power to prevent it, according to Israeli researchers.

New research from Israel suggests that it may be possible to prevent schizophrenia if it can be caught before it fully manifests itself. The study, from Tel Aviv University (TAU), shows that early intervention could prevent the mind-altering disorder.

Prof. Ina Weiner of the department of psychology at TAU says: “The big question asked in recent years is if schizophrenia can be prevented.” Her response is that drugs like clozapine that are used to treat schizophrenia might, if administered during a subject’s adolescence, prevent the development of the disease in those predisposed to it. “Pharmacological treatments for schizophrenia remain unsatisfactory, so clinicians and researchers like myself have started to dig in another direction,” she says. Their results provide hope.

The onset of schizophrenia, which affects about 1.1 percent of the US population, is not easy to predict. Although it is associated with as many as 14 genes in the human genome, the prior presence of schizophrenia in the family is not enough to determine whether one will succumb to the mind-altering condition. The disease also has a significant environmental link.

Searching for biological cues prior to onset

Weiner explains that the developmental disorder, which usually manifests in early adulthood, can be triggered in the womb by an infection. But unlike developmental disorders such as autism, it takes many years for the symptoms of schizophrenia to develop.

In their study, recently reported in Biological Psychiatry, Weiner and her colleagues Dr. Yael Piontkewiz and Dr. Yaniv Assaf sought to discover biological cues that would help to trace the progression of the disease before symptoms manifested. “If progressive brain changes occur as schizophrenia is emerging, it is possible that these changes could be prevented by early intervention,” she says. “That would revolutionize the treatment of the disorder.

“We wondered if we could use neuro-imaging to track any early-onset changes in the brains of laboratory animals,” Weiner relates. Then she says, the scientists asked: “If so, could these changes and their accompanying schizophrenia-like symptoms be prevented, if caught early enough?”

Weiner and her team gave pregnant rats a viral mimic known to induce a schizophrenia-like behavioral disorder in offspring. This method simulates maternal infection in pregnancy, which is a well-known risk factor for schizophrenia. Weiner demonstrated that the rat offspring were normal at birth and during adolescence. But in early adulthood, the animals, like their human counterparts, began to show schizophrenia-like symptoms.

Arresting brain deterioration

As she examined brain scans and behavior, Weiner found abnormal development of the lateral ventricles and the hippocampus in those rats with “schizophrenia.” Those that were at high risk for the condition could be given drugs to treat their brains, she determined.

Following treatment with risperidone and clozapine, two commonly used drugs to treat schizophrenia, brain scans performed at the Center for Computational Neuro-Imaging at TAU showed that the lateral ventricles and the hippocampus regained a healthy size.

“Clinicians have suspected that these drugs can be used to prevent the onset of schizophrenia, but this is the first demonstration that such a treatment can arrest the development of brain deterioration,” Weiner says, adding that the drugs work best when delivered during the rats’ “adolescent” period, several months before they reach full maturity.

Currently, anti-psychotics are prescribed only when symptoms are present. Weiner and her colleagues believe that an effective non-invasive prediction method (following the developmental trajectory of specific changes in the brain), coupled with a low dose drug taken during adolescence, could stave off schizophrenia in those most at risk.

Weiner has already begun research to determine the point at which changes in the brain can be detected.

Estrogen as ammo against schizophrenia

In a related development, Weiner has also discovered that the female hormone estrogen may work as a protective agent in menopausal women vulnerable to schizophrenia.

While estrogen replacement therapy has long been a controversial treatment for the symptoms of menopause, a TAU study shows that it may have a positive effect in women who are at risk for schizophrenia.

“Antipsychotic drugs are less effective during low periods of estrogen in the body, after birth and in menopause. Now our pre-clinical findings show why this might be happening,” says Weiner. “Our research links schizophrenia and its treatment to estrogen levels.”

Weiner and her doctoral student Michal Arad have reported findings suggesting that restoring normal levels of estrogen may work as a protective agent in menopausal women vulnerable to schizophrenia.

Their work, based on an animal model of menopausal psychosis, was recently reported in the journal Psychopharmacology. In their study, Weiner and Arad removed the ovaries of female rats to induce menopause-like low levels of estrogen and showed that this led to schizophrenia-like behavior. The researchers then tried to eliminate this abnormal behavior with an estrogen replacement treatment or with the antipsychotic drug haloperidol.

Estrogen replacement therapy effectively alleviated schizophrenia-like behavior but haloperidol had no effect on its own. Haloperidol regained its effect in these rats when supplemented by estrogen.

Hadassah Hospital researchers develop new cell growth method which may help heal Parkinson’s disease, diabetes

Sarit Rosenblum

Fetal stem cells. Considerable scientific interest

A breakthrough made by Israeli researchers may pave the way for healing chronic illnesses: Researchers from Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital have developed a new method for producing large amounts of human fetal stem cells.

Fetal stem cells can transform into any type of cell in the human body. The cells attract considerable scientific interest due to the estimate that in the future they could be used as an endless source of cells, which will be transplanted and improve the performance of organs in a wide variety of degenerative diseases.

The medical world hopes to be able to use fetal stem cells to heal Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, reticular degeneration and other illnesses. In addition, the cells may be used in the future to grow human organs which would replace damaged organs like kidneys and liver.

Up to now, stem cells would be multiplied in colonies of one cell layer attached to a flat substrate. In their study, the Israeli researchers showed that human fetal stem cells can be produced and multiplied while floating in liquid substrate.

“The study’s findings are an important step ahead of an automatic and controlled creation of the large amounts of cells needed for transplant and other industrial and research purposes,” says Prof. Benjamin Rubinoff, director of the Hadassah Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Center, who headed the team of researchers.

By David Shamah

It already has FDA approval for facial tightening and studies indicate that an Israeli company’s new cosmetic treatment device is safer, less painful, and more effective long-term.

When people want a youthful complexion these days, they often turn to Radio Frequency (RF), a relatively new cosmetic procedure that can tighten the skin, treat cellulite, remove scars and stretch marks and even treat acne.

While it’s no doubt a safer option than surgery, the less invasive RF treatment can still be painful and lead to burns, putting off many prospective clients. Now an Israeli company, Endymed, hopes to change all that with a new device that it claims can make RF-Based cosmetic procedures safer, more effective and less painful.

RF treatment works by generating a wave of electrons that cause frictional heating of tissue. Unlike laser surgery, which only affects the top layers of the skin, RF energy (in use for years in cardiological and neurological procedures) is able to penetrate deeper to reach the interior dermis and subcutaneous layers, achieving tightening and improvements to the underlying tissue structure, as well as contracting and renewing the collagen.

The problem is, however, that not all RF is created equal, Uzi Blumensohn, CEO of Endymed tells ISRAEL21c. There are two main techniques in use today, the first – monopolar heat delivery – aims a single electrode deep into the skin, often causing overheating and pain; the second – biopolar heat delivery – uses two electrodes but due to safety considerations can only penetrate the top layers of skin, requiring longer treatment periods.

“The two main [RF] techniques of delivering heat to the underlying skin leave much to be desired,” says Blumensohn. Both first and second generations of these RF technologies “either penetrate deeper into the tissue, which is painful and might result in surface or subsurface burns, or deliver heat very superficially, limiting their beneficial effect,” he claims.

Multiple energy sources for controlled delivery

That’s where the Endymed innovation comes in. Endymed’s 3Deep technology uses multiple energy sources that interact to provide controlled delivery of energy to the various skin levels. By playing off the different RF energy levels to create a thermal pattern that’s strong enough to make the desired changes, the patient isn’t hurt, says Blumensohn, who claims that Endymed is the only solution in use today that employs selective, phase-controlled heat delivery.

Using an array of electrodes and a sophisticated algorithm to manipulate the energy phases, the Endymed Pro Console can penetrate far deeper than bipolar devices – as deep as nine millimeters into the skin – while adeptly controlling the level and precision of the heat, claims Blumensohn.

“The multiple electrical fields created repel each other, leading to the ideal combination of energy directed to a deeper skin layer,” he says. “The repelling forces between adjacent electromagnetic fields drive energy vertically into the target tissue, reducing the amount of energy flowing through skin surface and alleviating the need for cooling.”

In addition to its effectiveness, Blumensohn claims the Endymed device is the safest RF system on the market. While other systems rely on a technician’s judgment to halt the flow of energy, the Endymed system constantly checks the amount of heat it generates, and shuts itself off if things get too hot – or if the device loses contact with the skin.

Safety at the core

Safety, in fact, is one of the main reasons the Endymed device was created by company founders Yoram Harth, Endymed’s chief medical officer, and Daniel Lischinsky, head of R&D at the company. Both Harth and Lischinsky have years of experience in the aesthetic medicine market, and both came to realize that patients were having a hard time.

“There’s a great deal of potential in the market, but we realized that many patients were staying away because of the pain involved,” says Blumensohn. The Endymed device was designed specifically to help those patients – and others – he says.

The console comes with hand pieces for use specifically on the face, neck, arms and knees, “each specifically engineered to ensure maximum comfort, safety and effectiveness, Blumensohn says. In addition, studies carried out for the FDA indicate that the device is not only safer, but it’s more effective long term; somehow, the heat combination that the Endymed device produces “keeps” longer, so patients can go longer periods between return treatments than they can with other RF systems.

The console received FDA approval for use in facial tightening a few months ago, after receiving European CE approval for all its functions. Currently, the system is being used throughout Europe and the Far East for face tightening and body contouring (reducing cellulite levels). In the US, it is distributed by Eclipsemed, probably the biggest distributor of high-tech aesthetic devices in the States. Blumensohn tells ISRAEL21c that the company expects soon to receive additional FDA approvals for use of the device in body contouring.

Currently funded by investments from Israel’s Medica 3 Venture Fund (Opal Ventures), Blumensohn believe the Caesarea-based company will be able to begin turning a profit within the next couple of years and will continue to grow.

Four  biotech funds have met the threshold conditions of the government biotechnology fund tender.

The government originally planned to support three biotechnology funds from among the funds that met the threshold conditions, but has now decided to allow all four of the funds to receive the $24 million support, provided that each fund raises the $76 million supplementary financing. The decision will increase the government’s commitment to about $100 million from the originally planned $80 million, and will boost the program’s total funding to $400 million.

The government added that the fund that brings the largest amount of funding will win an additional special $8 million incentive funding.

The decision to allow each of the four funds that meets the tender’s terms to set up a biotech fund, provided that it raises the supplementary funding, prevents the problematic outcome of companies seeking to raise capital from their investors without knowing whether they will obtain government funding. The decision also indicates that the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor believe that all the funds that meet the threshold conditions are successful and worthy funds for establishing a biotechnology fund.

Diabetes is now reaching epidemic proportions. The chronic disease occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, or the body cannot effectively use the insulin it does produce. Over time this leads to serious damage to the body – particularly the nerves and blood vessels – causing blindness, loss of limbs, and eventually death.

In the US alone 23.6 million people (7.8 percent of the population) have diabetes, while worldwide the World Health Organization claims that some 180 million people suffer from the disease. In some communities around the world – like Oklahoma – a staggering 39 percent of the population has pre-diabetes or diabetes.

The figure is rising dramatically. WHO predicts that this figure will double by more than 50 percent in the next 10 years worldwide, and 80 percent in upper-middle income countries, if something isn’t done urgently to combat the disease.

The primary causes of Type 2 diabetes – the most common form of the illness – are obesity, lack of exercise. In the past most people tended to develop this in the middle years, today the age is creeping lower and lower.

Israeli scientists are at the forefront of research into diabetes, searching for ways to diagnose the illness at an earlier stage, create more effective and pain-free treatments, help treat the side effects of the disease, and understand how this disease develops in an effort to find a cure.

Breakthrough diabetes research may be closest thing to a cure [VIDEO]

The World Health Organization estimates that over 180 million people worldwide have diabetes and predicts that will more than double by 2030.

Israeli proposes to shrink Samoan waistlines

An Israeli diplomat in Samoa is bringing Israeli experts to curb increasing obesity and diabetes in the South Pacific islands.

New oral insulin capsule passes Phase 2 clinical trials

Israel drug delivery systems developer Oramed Pharmaceuticals, has reported positive results from a Phase 2A study of its oral insulin capsule, ORMD-0801, on type 1 diabetic patients.

Haifa scientists close in on new diabetes treatment

Thanks to ongoing research at the University of Haifa, it may soon be possible to treat diabetes by popping a pill instead of an injection.

Israeli patent moves closer to achieving oral insulin treatment

When Dr. Miriam Kidron, a scientist from Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem, first announced that she and a group of fellow researchers planned to bring an oral insulin for diabetics to market, most people thought the idea was ridiculous.

Israeli startup turns mother’s herbal remedy into a diabetes treatment

For Israeli Bedouin Dr. Sobhi Sauob, it was only natural to turn to his mother when he decided to start developing a new herbal remedy to help diabetics.

Scientists develop protein to regrow blood vessels

A new protein injection developed by Israeli researchers can trigger the regrowth of blood vessels around the heart, offering a potential alternative to risky bypass surgery.

Landmark Israeli-led study to improve diagnosis of diabetes

The World Health Organization, the US National Institute of Health and others are expected to change their definition of gestational diabetes, based on an international study led by an Israeli medical team.

Natural Israeli remedy holds out hope for diabetes sufferers

There’s nothing like a hot cup of tea on a cold day. Now an Israeli company plans to introduce a herbal tea to the US that isn’t just an enjoyable break, but which it claims can substantially reduce the blood sugar levels of diabetics.

Technion researchers find that vitamin E can help diabetics avoid heart attacks

Researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Clalit Heath Services have discovered that taking vitamin E supplements could reduce the risk of heart attacks and stroke in type II diabetics who carry a specific version of a gene.

Pfizer puts funds behind team of Israeli all-star scientists to change traditional diabetes research

It’s become a given that Israel is a world leader in high tech and biotechnology – areas driven by doctors and scientists often with spirited visions of making the world a better place. So wouldn’t it make sense to bring together some of the top Israeli minds in a given field to form a dream-team of physicians and scientists?

Israel set to become world center for diabetes research

Israel’s contribution to the worldwide effort to find a cure for diabetes received a big boost last week when a five-year, $30 million program was launched in Jerusalem.

Israeli-Swedish team uncovers key to onset of Type 2 diabetes

Scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot and the University of Umea in Sweden have unraveled a mechanism by which fat contributes to the onset of the Type 2 diabetes, which affects one out of 12 adults in the Western world and threatens to double in the next two decades, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Periodic breathing cessation during slumber can lengthen seniors’ lives.

Sleep apnea syndrome – in which sufferers stop breathing momentarily many times during the night – has for many years been regarded as a major risk factor for clogging of the coronary arteries and other heart diseases. But now, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology President Prof. Peretz Lavie – a psychologist and one of the country’s leading sleep medicine experts – and his wife and fellow researcher cell biologist, Dr. Lena Lavie, have found that in elderly people, moderate apnea may in fact extend their lives rather than shorten it.

The Lavies’ research, based on the study of 611 individuals with a mean age of 70 and a follow-up period of about five years, has just been published in the Journal of Sleep Research of the European Sleep Research Society. The reasoning has been confirmed separately by German researchers at Heinrich Heine University in Dusseldorf, who published their findings in the journal Chest of the American College of Chest Physicians.

Prof. Lavie has published more than 340 scientific articles and eight books in the field of sleep research, including The Enchanted World of Sleep, which is suited for the layman and translated to 15 languages. Lena, a senior researcher in the Technion, has collaborated with him on sleep research focusing on understanding the cellular and biochemical impacts of the breathing cessations.

Many sleep apnea patients go to bed at night connected to a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device, which is not very comfortable but pushes through a mask pressurized air – insufficient during breathing cessation – under pressure into their lungs. This does not cure sleep apnea but can reduce the complications.

Intermittent hypoxia – the lack of adequate oxygen – initiates a cascade of events involving oxidative stress and inflammatory processes leading to atherosclerosis. But surprisingly, the new research found that in contrast to young and middle-age patients, who showed significantly higher mortality than their counterparts in the general population, elderly patients with mild or moderate apnea showed significantly lower mortality than in the general population.

The researchers suggest that the hearts of elderly sleep apnea patients get blood from a larger number of arteries – called collaterals – that develop by angiogenesis due to the lack of oxygen supply, than the hearts of patients without sleep apnea. This additional blood supply protects them if they suffer a heart attack, the Lavies write.

The Haifa researchers based their hypothesis on previous results from the Haifa group demonstrating that sleep apnea patients have in their blood high levels of a protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). This protein is responsible for the growth of new blood vessels, and its production is triggered by a drop in blood oxygen levels.

The Technion team also showed that there are very large individual differences in the effect of hypoxia on the production of this protein. The research group found that individuals who could produce a large amount of protein when exposed to hypoxia had more blood vessels around their hearts in comparison with individuals who could not produce the protein.

Dr. Stephan Steiner and his colleagues from the cardiology department in Heinrich Heine University reported data that provided strong support to the Lavies’ hypothesis. Steiner and his colleagues compared the number and size of the heart collaterals measured by catheterization in patients with and without sleep apnea and reported that patients with sleep apnea had significantly more collaterals than patients without sleep apnea, even though there were no differences between the groups in age, weight, heart condition or use of medication.

The German research in Chest was accompanied in the same issue by an editorial that was written by the Lavies. “If confirmed, these findings may have important clinical implications regarding treatment of the syndrome. Moreover,” they continued, “such findings – if combined with individual gene analysis – may provide new treatment strategies for cardiovascular protection.”

Israeli researchers find pregnancy can be mimicked to regenerate tissue.