Our Technology

THE DISCOVERY

Regulating vascular (dys)function in acute cardiovascular disease

VST BIO is a biotechnology start-up company, that develops antibodies for the treatment of inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases, including stroke, acute myocardial infarction, but also in oncology.

VST BIO’s First-in-Class drugs target novel pathways selectively regulating vascular permeability. VST BIO technology uses fully human antibodies to target the vasculature to selectively block inflammation- and injury-induced vascular leak, without affecting normal vascular function. 

This systemic vascular leak is a co-morbidity seen in a variety of diseases including stroke (CVA, TIA), myocardial infarction, traumatic brain injury, reperfusion injury, ARDS/ COVID-19 infection, oncology, and shock. Originally regarded as a common bystander effect of tissue injury, researchers now understand that vascular permeability (loss of vascular integrity, or ‘vascular leakage’) is detrimental to a cascade of events, including the deposition of local inflammatory cells and free radical formation, that further expand tissue damage (for instance in ischemic stroke; reviewed Sandoval and Witt, Neurobiol. Disc. 2008). Through this infiltration of damaging cells and oxidative stress, together with swelling of the tissue (edema), cerebral damage expands in the first 7 days after the onset of stroke. VST Bio proprietary antibodies aim to restore vascular function and prevent the expansion of cerebral damage in the first days after the onset of symptoms.

Indeed, in cell culture and in stroke models, VST-Bio antibodies completely blocked vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-induced vascular leakage, and reduced significantly stroke-related cerebral damage up to 40%-60%.

The human VTS-201 antibody can safely

• Normalize vascular leakage (as seen after VEGF activation)

• Prevent inflammatory infiltration

• Reduce oxidative stress of reperfusion injury

• Reduce swelling of the brain in the acute phase of stroke (i.e. edema formation) and prevents intracerebral pressure build-up

• Leading to limitation of overall cerebral damage due to stroke

But more importantly,

• conventional (standard-of-care) therapy for ischemic stroke is only effective when given within the first hours after onset of stroke

• Since vascular leakage is a phenomenon that continues over the first days after stroke onset, the VTS-201 antibody therapy is effective to reduce ongoing cerebral damage in the first days after onset of stroke.

• Reduction of cerebral damage will lead to expedited functional recovery from ischemic stroke and a reduction of long-term neurological symptoms in treated patients