New IN-ARMOR project aims to fight antimicrobial resistance
The research groups of professor Varpu Marjomäki and professor Lotta-Riina Sundberg from Ģֱ are partners in a recently started EU project IN-ARMOR. This project aims at finding novel solutions to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through immunoboosting. The exact name of the project is “Therapeutic epigenetic enhancement of innate immunity to effectively combat antimicrobial resistance”.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a global problem
Antimicrobial resistance and multi-drug resistance, whereby pathogens evolve to resist antibiotic drugs, is designated by WHO as one of the top 10 health threats of our time. Antimicrobial resistance was estimated to be linked to already 4.95 million deaths in 2019. The next global pandemic could be a multi-drug resistant bacterium, or a ‘pan-drug’ resistant strain (resistant to all existing drugs). This could take us back to preantibiotic times where common infections were lethal. None of the 43 antibiotics currently within the clinical pipeline address the world’s 13 most dangerous infections.
- The innate immunity presents the strongest potential to tackle AMR as it can generate antimicrobial molecules and proteins that directly inhibit microbial survival. Inducing such proteins has shown effective antimicrobial activity against bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa, says professor Varpu Marjomäki from the University of Jyvaskylä.
Prevention of antimicrobial resistance requires cooperation
Building on this approach, leading professors from five universities are collaborating with leading researchers from a research organization, hospital and five industry partners representing eight EU countries to fight antimicrobial resistance.
- We introduce a novel class of immune system inducers able to enhance the body’s own innate microbial defense mechanisms to combat AMR and reduce incidence of the most dangerous drug resistant infections, says Marjomäki.
The developed therapy will be pre-clinically validated for safety and efficacy in vitro and in vivo to complete all Investigational Medicinal Product requirements. Upon project completion, IN-ARMOR will be ready for clinical validation. If successful, IN-AMOR presents the potential to annually save 127,000 lives and €150mn if applied to only 10% of AMR cases.
Additional information:
- Prof. Varpu Marjomäki, varpu.s.marjomaki@jyu.fi, +358 40 563 4422
- Prof. Lotta-Riina Sundberg, lotta-riina.sundberg@jyu.fi, +358 40 805 3931
- IN-ARMOR project:
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