Sigrid Therapeutics has announced the publication of a multifaceted, scientific study in the peer-reviewed journal Advanced Healthcare Materials showing that a new approach using mesoporous silica particles (MSPs) can be used to prevent type 2-diabetes and treat obesity.
By blocking food enzyme activity, MSPs reduce energy intake from food and lower blood sugar and other metabolic risk factors. The MSPs are administered orally in solution and passed harmlessly from the body in stools.
“I am very proud of our brilliant and heartfelt researchers at Sigrid for our second major publication this year, adding to the growing body of scientific evidence for using Sigrid’s precisely engineered MSPs as a novel way to prevent and treat type 2-diabetes and obesity”, says Sana Alajmovic, Sigrid Co-founder & CEO: “Preventing type-2 diabetes has never been more urgent as the disease is one of the major risk-factors for serious illness upon infection with the Coronavirus,” says Sana Alajmovic, CEO of Sigrid Therapeutics.
A combination of clinical, ex vivo, in vitro and in vivo data
The study report comprising a combination of clinical, ex vivo, in vitro and in vivo data: it confirms previously reported reductions in glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and LDL cholesterol in man in response to MSP ingestion, it demonstrates sequestration of pancreatic amylase and lipase in a MSP pore-size dependent manner, and it describes in ex vivo experiments in conditions mimicking intestinal conditions and in vivo experiments in mice, enzyme activities dropped upon exposure to the engineered MSP.
Taken together, the results are compatible with a mode of action whereby a portion of the enzymes are trapped inside the MSPs resulting in an enzyme-blocking effect.
“The results fully support our original concept of using MSPs as “molecular sieves” to prevent type 2-diabetes and treat obesity.”
“To get a deeper understanding of the conditions under which MSPs can trap enzymes of interest, we designed a range of experiments including studies in obese individuals, ex vivo, in vitro and in vivo experiments in mice. The results fully support our original concept of using MSPs as “molecular sieves” to prevent type 2-diabetes and treat obesity,” says the head of the research team behind the study, Professor Tore Bengtsson at the Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University and Sigrid Co-founder and CSO.
Photo of Sana Alajmovic: Sigrid Therapeutics
